Electroactive Block Copolymer Brushes on Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes

Electroactive polymer (EAP) brushes with multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) backbones were prepd. by grafting nonconjugated polymers contg. pendant electroactive groups on the side walls of nanotubes via surface-initiated ring-opening metathesis polymn. Norbornene-functionalized MWCNTs were prepd. from 5-norbornene-2-methanol with pendant N,N,N’,N’-tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine. The ion-conducting monomer with pendant triethyleneoxymethyl ether groups was also synthesized by a similar reaction between norbornene-2,3-endo-dimethanol and triethylene glycol monomethyl ether tosylate. Block copolymer brushes with a shell of ion-conducting polymers surrounding the EAP were also prepd. These resultant electroactive materials exhibited high dispersibility in org. solvents and improved electroactivity and conductance, in comparison with the homo- and copolymers that were not attached to MWCNTs. [on SciFinder(R)]