Mahendra Kumar Sahoo and Soumya Sahoo
In this research article, we have described the synthesis of non-covalent functionalization of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with a polymer dispersant and obtained a powder of polymer-wrapped MWCNTs. The UV– vis absorption spectrum was used to investigate the optimal weight ratio of the MWCNTs and polymer dispersant. The powder of polymer-wrapped CNTs had improved the drawbacks of MWCNTs of being lightweight and difficult to process, and it can re-disperse in a solvent. Then, we blended the polymer-wrapped MWCNTs and polyethylene (PE) by melt-mixing and produced a conductive master batch and MWCNT/PE composites. The polymer-wrapped CNTs showed lower surface resistivity in composites than the raw MWCNTs. The structure of PE/c-MWCNT composites was characterized by UV–vis spectra, Scanning electron microscopy showed that both the thinner fibrous phase and the larger block phase could be observed. The ultimate mechanical properties might be compromised by the addition of CNTs to the perfect structure of the polymer fibre
