Comparative study of two polymer carbon nanotube composites using electron paramagnetic resonance and transmission electron microscopy

Robert J. Murphy; Jonathan N. Coleman; Sean M. O'Flaherty; Martin Cadek; Brendan McCarthy; Anna Drury; Robert C. Barklie; Werner J. Blau

doi:10.1117/12.463698

27 August 2003 Comparative study of two polymer carbon nanotube composites using electron paramagnetic resonance and transmission electron microscopy

Robert J. Murphy, Jonathan N. Coleman, Sean M. O'Flaherty, Martin Cadek, Brendan McCarthy, Anna Drury, Robert C. Barklie, Werner J. Blau

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 4876, Opto-Ireland 2002: Optics and Photonics Technologies and Applications; (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.463698
Event: OPTO Ireland, 2002, Galway, Ireland

Abstract

We have fabricated two conjugated organic polymer-multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWNT) composites and measured the MWNT content of these two hosts using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). These polymers were poly(m-phenylenevinylene-co-2,5-dioctyloxy-p-phenylenevinylene) (PmPV) and poly(9,9-di-n-octylfluorenyl-2,7'-diyl) (PFO). These polymers both disperse MWNTs efficiently but differ in that PFO also suspends graphitic nanoparticles. The fraction of available MWNTs suspended in PmPV rises with increasing polymer mass before saturating at approximately 50% by mass for an optimum soot to polymer mass ratio of 1:4. The optimum settling time for PFO composites was 96 hrs after which 35% of available MWNTs remained suspended. Finally the host polymers were removed by Buchner filtration and the remaining residues were investigated with transmission electron microscopy (TEM). PFO also suspends graphitic nanoparticles with a maximum diameter of approximately 100 nm, which can be attributed to the structure of the polymer itself.

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Robert J. Murphy, Jonathan N. Coleman, Sean M. O'Flaherty, Martin Cadek, Brendan McCarthy, Anna Drury, Robert C. Barklie, and Werner J. Blau "Comparative study of two polymer carbon nanotube composites using electron paramagnetic resonance and transmission electron microscopy", Proc. SPIE 4876, Opto-Ireland 2002: Optics and Photonics Technologies and Applications, (27 August 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.463698

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