Chemical surface modification and characterization of carbon nanostructures without shape damage

Abstract

Carbon nanostructures have been extensively studied due to combination of properties they present. With different geometries and reactivities, carbon nanotubes, graphene and fullerene were oxidized and modified with octadecylamine (ODA) in order to decrease van der Waals's interaction and consequently improve the polymer-carbon nanostructures affinity for use in nanocomposites. Nanostructures were characterized as morphology, chemical structure, molecular conformation and thermal properties. All nanostructures showed results that confirm the modification with ODA, without geometry being altered. Modified nanostructures showed different percentages of ODA: graphene 86%, carbon nanotubes 83% and fullerene 63%. It was attributed to distinct reactivities, shapes and specific surface area available, due to different amounts of reactive terminals obtained before oxidation reactions. However, they showed a lower interfacial interaction, which is highly favorable for use in polymer nanocomposites.