Carbon Nanotubes and Graphene Nanocomposites

Carbon nanomaterials have been at the forefront of materials science, research and technology since the discovery of fullerenes and advent of CNT and graphene. The discovery of fullerenes and exfoliation of graphene resulted in the award of Nobel Prizes to their discoverers [20]. Incorporation of such carbon nanomaterials within polymer matrices, be it conventional or conductive polymers, would be of particular interest because CNT are some of the stiffest and strongest man-made materials known to date, and graphene has provided exciting new opportunities for materials science [21]. CNT also exhibit very high electrical conductivity, which is very important for applications in electronic devices and communications [22]. The interfacial polymerisation has been shown to lead to efficient grafting of nanotubes with a polymer layer. For that purpose, CNT are added to the oil phase after their functionalisation with organophilic hydrocarbon molecules such as oleylamine. During polymerisation, the CNT are trapped by the slightly hydrophilic pyrrole oligomers and are transferred towards the aqueous phase. At some point, the MW of the PPy becomes very high and, due to extensive crosslinking, they are now insoluble in any solvent and the composites form an interfacial film [14, 23].