Liquid Crystallinity and Novel Assembly of Amorphous Polymer Grafted Carbon Nanotubes

Amorphous polymer grafted MWNTs were synthesized by free radical copolymerization of styrene and MWNTs with vinyl groups. The AP-g-CNT samples were found to be soluble in a variety of organic solvents, such as DMF, CH 2 Cl 2 , and other common organic solvents for polystyrene. AP-g-CNT exhibit novel lyotropic and thermotropic liquid crystallinity with pattern-like crack texture in solution and molten states, respectively. The CNTs could be linked to the amorphous polymer by covalent bonds to form some novel assembly patterns including vertically aligned columns, micro-sized mono-layered and multi-layered holes. The results pave a new method for developments of novel nano-electronic devices.