Ethylene-Norbornene Copolymerization by Carbon Nanotube-Supported Metallocene Catalysis: Generation of High-Performance Polyolefinic Nanocomposites

• Published in: Macromolecular rapid communications. Vol. 28; no. 7; pp. 822 - 827
• Main Authors: Bredeau, Stéphane, Boggioni, Laura, Bertini, Fabio, Tritto, Incoronata, Monteverde, Fabien, Alexandre, Michaël, Dubois, Philippe
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim WILEY-VCH Verlag 02.04.2007; WILEY‐VCH Verlag; Wiley
• Subjects: Applied sciences; carbon nanotubes; Composites; ethylene-norbornene copolymerization; Exact sciences and technology; Forms of application and semi-finished materials; metallocene catalysts; nanocomposites; Polymer industry, paints, wood; polymerization-filling technique; Technology of polymers; Elastic modulus; Norbornene copolymer; Dispersion degree; In situ; Mechanical properties; Carbon nanotubes; Zirconium complex; Experimental study; Complex catalyst copolymerization; Metallocene; nanocomposites; Supported catalyst; Saturated copolymer; EVA; metallocene catalysts; polymerization- filling technique; Multiwalled nanotube; Morphology; Preparation; Ethylene copolymer; Chloro complex; Nanocomposite; ethylene-norbornene copolymerization
• ISSN: 1022-1336; 1521-3927
• DOI: 10.1002/marc.200600872

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)2ZrCl2/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 13C 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.