Preparation of Polystyrene Functionalized Graphene by Atom Transfer Nitroxide Radical Coupling Reaction

Abstract

Polystyrene functionalized graphene was prepared by atom transfer nitroxide radical coupling (ATNRC) reaction. Graphene oxide was first reacted with thionyl chloride, followed by esterification with 4-hydroxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-piperidinyl-1-oxyl (HTEMPO) to prepare HTEMPO functionalized graphene (Graphene-HTEMPO). Then, Graphene-HTEMPO was coupled with Br-end-capping polystyrene prepared by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) via ATNRC reaction to obtain polystyrene covalently func- tionalized graphene (Graphene-g-PS). The thermogravimetric analysis result showed that the graft ratio of PS was 6.68 wt%. The PS on the surface of graphene could be obviously observed from the TEM image. Because of the covalent graft of PS, Graphene-g-PS showed good dispersibility in chloroform, hexane, tolu- ene, methanol, etc., which is favorable to the further application of graphene.