Abstract
Fullerene C 60 can be grafted onto polyisoprene chains by γ irradiation in n-hexane or in toluene. The resulting polyisoprene/C 60 nanocomposites can be easily recovered from the solutions and have been characterized by electronic absorption and Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The electronic absorption spectroscopy clearly shows that C 60 undergoes addition reaction from the polyisoprene macroradicals formed by γ radiolysis. FT-IR spectroscopy supports the grafting reaction of polyisoprene on C 60 and additionally it shows that C 60 acts as a sensitizer for the partial cis–trans isomerization of the polyisoprene monomeric units. Relatively high levels of C 60 lead the polyisoprene-based nanocomposite to a crosslinked gel. The thermal behaviour of the polyisoprene/C 60 nanocomposites has been studied by the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA-DTG). It is shown that the radical adducts polyisoprene/C 60 are thermally reversible and regenerate free C 60 during the pyrolysis under N 2.
Published Version
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