Vibrational and thermal properties of poly (vinyl alcohol)/MultiWall carbon nanotubes nanocomposite

In this work, homogeneous dispersion of multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) in the hydrophilic polymer poly (vinyl)alcohol (PVA) in the presence of organic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) was achieved. Further, thermal analysis shows that carbon nanotubes increase the glass transition temperature Tg and nucleate PVA crystallization. The observed results from Raman spectra recorded with 785 nm laser excitation were correlated to those obtained by infra-red absorption. These indicate that the SDS is adsorbed on the NTC surface which shows clearly the non covalent functionalization of the carbon nanotubes.