Facile covalent attachment of well-defined poly(t-butyl acrylate) on carbon nanotubes via radical addition reaction.

We developed a new method to covalently attach well-defined polymers onto carbon nanotubes (CNTs) using a radical reaction. Well-defined poly(t-butyl acrylate) [p(tBA)] was first prepared by atom transfer radical polymerization, which formed radicals at the end of the polymer chain through an atom transfer. The generated radicals at the chain ends added CNTs to generate covalently functionalized p(tBA)-grafted CNTs.