Application Of Free Radical Addition Reaction On The Modification Of Carbon Nanotubes And Graphene

This thesis reports the surface modification of carbon nanotubes and graphene utilizing free radical addition reaction. We firstly report a general strategy for functionalizing the sidewalls of carbon nanotubes, which is based on electrophilic substitution reactions on phenylated nanotubes. We also report a new free radical promoted strategy for the synthesis of chemical converted graphene, which does not require any reducing regents. At last, the graphene modified glassy carbon electrode was fabriacted using in-situ electrochemical reduction. The grphene modified electrode was used to detect the electrochemical response of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT).The main results are as below:1. We report a general strategy for functionalizing the sidewalls of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), which is based on electrophilic substitution reactions on phenylated CNTs. By using this strategy, four new functionalized CNTs were prepared, including diphenyl ketone, benzenesulfonyl chloride, benzyl chloride and thiophenol modified CNTs. The benzenesulfonyl chloride and benzyl chloride functinalized CNTs could serve as novel initiators for surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization. The thiophenol modified CNTs were used in immobilizing Pd nanoparticles on the CNT surface, and the CNT/Pd hybrid produced exhibits good catalytic efficiency for the electrochemical oxidation of methanol.2. We demonstrate a new strategy to the synthesis of chemical converted graphene, which is based on the free radical promoted elimination of the oxygen-containing moieties. The free radical promoted conversion reaction can be carried out under mild condition and does not require any reducing regents. This simple and flexible strategy can be easily adapted to produce wide range of novel graphene-based functional materials. More important, this new method highlight the importance to understand the reaction mechanism associated with the conversion of graphene oxide to graphene. Besides the conversional reduction mechanism, other reaction mechanism may also be applied to the production of graphene by chemical methods.3. The graphene modified glassy carbon electrode (GS/GCE) was obtained by in-situ electrochemical reduction of the GO. The as-prepared graphene shows higher specific capacitance and longer cycle life as the supercapacitor materials. The GS/GCE was used to detect the electrochemical response of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT). Compared with bare glassy carbon electrode (GCE) and graphene oxide modified GCE (GO/GCE), the GS/GCE showed lower detection limit, and wider linear range in the detection of TNT. The results demonstrate the potential of graphene as an excellent material for the fabrication of novel electrochemical sensors suitable for anti-torrist application.