Dresden 2011 – scientific programme
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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik
CPP 43: Nanoparticles and Composite Materials I
CPP 43.4: Talk
Thursday, March 17, 2011, 15:00–15:15, ZEU 222
Small-angle scattering study of dispersion ability of polystyrene modified carbon nanotubes. — •Anastasia Golosova1,2, Joseph Adelsberger1, Alessandro Sepe1, Martin Niedermeier1, Sergio S. Funari3, Peter Lindner4, Rainer Jordan2, and Christine M. Papadakis1 — 1TU München, Physikdepartment, Fachgebiet Physik der weichen Materie, Garching — 2TU München, Department Chemie, Lehrstuhl für Makromolekulare Chemie, Garching — 3HASYLAB at DESY, Hamburg — 4ILL, Grenoble, France
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are attractive for nanocomposite applications due to their unique physical properties. In order to optimize their use as fillers, thorough characterization of their dispersions is of importance. Using small-angle scattering, we have studied the effect of the level of the CNTs' modification with polystyrene grafts on both, the morphology of CNTs and their agglomeration behavior in toluene dispersions. By contrast matching with the solvent in neutron experiments, we highlighted the polymer shell or the CNTs themselves, whereas X-rays gave overall information. The structure of the CNTs and their agglomerates were modeled as fractal aggregates of rods or of core-shell cylinders. The models were found to be consistent with the results of AFM and thermo-gravimetric analysis. Though agglomeration is observed even for the modified CNTs, an increase of the mesh size in the agglomerates with the increase of the modification level indicates that the modification procedure indeed leads to an improved dispersion ability of the CNTs.