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Ethylene–Norbornene Copolymerization by Carbon Nanotube‐Supported Metallocene Catalysis: Generation of High‐Performance Polyolefinic Nanocomposites
Author(s) -
Bredeau Stéphane,
Boggioni Laura,
Bertini Fabio,
Tritto Incoronata,
Monteverde Fabien,
Alexandre Michaël,
Dubois Philippe
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
macromolecular rapid communications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.348
H-Index - 154
eISSN - 1521-3927
pISSN - 1022-1336
DOI - 10.1002/marc.200600872
Subject(s) - copolymer , materials science , norbornene , metallocene , nanocomposite , polymer chemistry , ethylene , carbon nanotube , glass transition , nanotube , ethylene vinyl acetate , coating , chemical engineering , vinyl acetate , catalysis , composite material , polymerization , polymer , organic chemistry , chemistry , engineering
Homogeneous surface coating of multi‐walled carbon nanotubes is achieved for the first time by in situ copolymerization of ethylene (E) and 2‐norbornene (N) as catalyzed directly from the nanotube surface previously treated by a highly active metallocene‐based complex, i.e., rac ‐Et(Ind) 2 ZrCl 2 /MMAO‐3A. The copolymerization reaction allows for the destructuration of the native nanotube bundles, which upon further melt blending with an ethylene–vinyl acetate copolymer (27 wt.‐% vinyl acetate) matrix, leads to high‐performance polyolefinic nanocomposites. The microstructural analysis of the surface‐coating copolymer was carried out by 13 C NMR spectroscopy and allowed determination of the actual N content incorporated along the chains. Depending on the experimental conditions used (e.g., E pressure, solvent, feed N concentration) the relative quantity of E–N copolymer can be tuned, as well as the N content in the formed copolymers and accordingly their glass transition temperature.