Mussel inspired polymerized P(TA-TETA) for facile functionalization of carbon nanotube

This article describes a novel and effective approach for non-covalent modification of carbon nanotube (CNT) via the mussel inspired polymerization of tannic acid (TA) and triethylenetetramine (TETA) and subsequent surface initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and photograph were used to study the successful preparation of polymer brush grafted CNT (CNT-P(TA-TETA)-PDMAEMA) composite as well as the pH-responsive behavior of the composite. Furthermore, by amine protonation and in situ reduction, gold nanoparticles were successfully uploaded and the catalytic property of CNT-P(TA-TETA)-PDMAEMA/Au was investigated. We believe that the surface functionalization strategy can be extended to graphene and other substrates, and the surface properties can be regulated by grafting polymer brushes with different functionalities. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.