Preparation and Characterization of Poly(phenylene sulfide)-Functionalized MWNTs

Abstract

4-Chlorobenzoyl (CB) group-attached multi-walled carbon nanotube (c-MWNT) was prepared via a direct Friedel-Crafts acylation of MWNT with 4-chlorobenzoic acid (CBA) in a P2O5/poly(phosphoric acid) medium. c-MWNT with a maximum chlorine content of 5.3 wt% (CB group content of 20.9 wt%) was obtained by controlling the amount of CBA during the reaction. Using a self-condensation polymerization of 4-chlorobenzenethiol (CBT) to poly(phenylene sulfide) (PPS), MWNT-g-PPS was prepared by adding c-MWNT of chlorine content of 5.3 wt% during the self-polymerization of CBT and removing homo PPS after polymerization in order to increase the interfacial interaction between PPS and MWNT. Thermal and surface properties of the MWNT-g-PPS were characterized. The results showed that PPS was formed on the surface of c-MWNT by the condensation of c-MWNT and CBT.