Versatile Multi-Functional Block Copolymers Made by Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization and Post-Synthetic Modification: Switching from Volatile Organic Compound Sensors to Polymeric Surfactants for Water Rheology Control via Hydrolysis

Federico Di Sacco; Andrea Pucci; Patrizio Raffa

doi:10.3390/nano9030458

Versatile Multi-Functional Block Copolymers Made by Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization and Post-Synthetic Modification: Switching from Volatile Organic Compound Sensors to Polymeric Surfactants for Water Rheology Control via Hydrolysis

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2019 Mar 19;9(3):458. doi: 10.3390/nano9030458.

Authors

Federico Di Sacco^{1

2}, Andrea Pucci³, Patrizio Raffa⁴

Affiliations

¹ Zernike Institute for Advance Materials, University of Groningen, AG 9747 Groningen, The Netherlands. f.di.sacco@rug.nl.
² Dutch Polymer Institute (DPI), P.O. Box 902, 5600 AX Eindhoven, The Netherlands. f.di.sacco@rug.nl.
³ Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, University of Pisa, Via Giuseppe Moruzzi 13, 56124 Pisa (PI), Italy. andrea.pucci@unipi.it.
⁴ Department of Chemical Engineering, ENTEG institute, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands. p.raffa@rug.nl.

Abstract

Novel, multipurpose terpolymers based on styrene (PS), tert-butyl methacrylate (tBMA) and glycidyl methacrylate (GMA), have been synthesized via Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (ATRP). Post-synthetic modification with 1-pyrenemethylamine (AMP) allows non-covalent functionalization of carbon nanotubes, eventually yielding a conductive nanocomposite materials capable of interacting with different Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) by electrical resistance variation upon exposure. Moreover, facile hydrolysis of the tBMA group yields polyelectrolytic macrosurfactants with remarkable thickening properties for promising applications in water solution, such as Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR).

Keywords: VOC sensors; atom transfer radical polymerization; carbon nanotubes nanocomposites; multifunctional polymers; polymeric surfactants; solution rheology.