DISPERSION OF MULnWALLED CARBON NANOTUBES BY ADDING A HYDROXYL GROUP

The objective of the project is to prevent the agglomeration known in Carbon nanotubes in order
to utilize its exceptional properties. In order to achieve this, it was decided to find a method to
dissolve the carbon nanotubes into polar solvents by adding a hydroxyl group ( -OH) that would
prevent the agglomeration as well as improve the dispersion significantly into Polar Solvents. In
this project, a method is proposed to add a hydroxyl group to the Long chain of the Multi Wall
carbon nanotubes which will make it disperse into polar and non-polar solvents using Tetrahydro-
furan (THF) and sodium Zincate solution as an electrophilic agents, we added a hydroxyl
group to the CNT chain which by reaction of sodium Zincate with the walls of the carbon nano
tubes under stable sonication for nearly 12 hours. The product was characterized under Transmission
electron microscope which showed significant de-agglomeration which proves that adding
a hydroxyl group to the chains of MWCNTs reduce agglomeration significantly as well as
improve its dispersion properties. Moreover, after characterizing the sample under the FT-IR
spectroscopy, the results have shown bonds between C-OH which proves the attachment of the
hydroxyl group that caused the de-agglomeration.