Polymer Nanotubes Prepared From AAO Template And Surface-Initiated ATRP Functionalization

Anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) have ordered arrays of uniform nanochannels, making it a important material in the preparation of one-dimensional nano-materials. In this work, we prepared polymer nanotubes using AAO as template, the surface functionalizaiton of AAO membrane by ATRP was also studies.Porous alumina oxide membrane (AAO) as a template to prepare a variety of one-dimensional array of polymer nanotubes. The PEI and PAN nanotubes array has been prepared by this method, and the different wall thickness of nanotubes was prepared by changing the polymer concentration. The polymer nanotubes were further carbonized to carbon nanotubes.A facile method for surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) on the anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membranes has been developed. The AAO membrane was firstly functionalized by poly(dopamine), the bromoalkyl initiator was then immobilized on the poly(dopamine) functionalized AAO membrane surface in a two-step solid-phase reaction, followed by ATRP of acrylic acid (AAc) and Methyl methacrylate (MMA) in a aqueous solution. The polymer-grafted AAO membranes were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The XPS and FTIR results indicated that PAAc was successfully grafted on the AAO membrane surface. The results indicate that the thickness of the grafted polymer inside the isocylindrical pores of AAO membranes could be well controlled by changing the reaction time and monomer concentration.