HIGHLY DISPERSED MULTI-WALLED CARBON NANOTUBES IN WATER/ETHANOL AND ITS APPLICATION FOR PVA COMPOSITE
HIGHLY DISPERSED MULTI-WALLED CARBON NANOTUBES IN WATER／ETHANOL AND ITS APPLICATION FOR PVA COMPOSITE

Two carboxylation processes were carried out to modify multi-walled carbon nanot ube bundles (m-MWNTs). The results showed that both of the m-MWNTs could be high ly dispersed in water with the concentration up to 25 and 15mg/mL in ethanol wit hout obvious deposition or conglomeration over 6 months. FTIR, Raman, TGA and TE M characterizations of the m- MWNTs showed that hydroxyl and carboxyl groups hav e been attached with MWNTs, and that the nanotube structure was only damaged a l ittle after modification treatments in mixed acids over 24h. Above prepared nano tube suspensions in water were successfully used as a filler of thermoplastic PV A composite to enhance its electrical conductivity. The results showed that the addition of m-MWNTs greatly improved the conductivity and the threshold of mass fraction was about 5wt%. The results also proved that purification process was n ot needed because of high purity of the raw MWNTs prepared in our group.