The morphology evolution of polyethylene produced in the presence of a Ziegler-type catalyst anchored on the surface of multi-walled carbon nanotubes |
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| Authors: | Aleksandr A Zdanovich Sergey I Moseenkov Arcady V Ishchenko Vladimir L Kuznetsov Mikhail A Matsko Vladimir A Zakharov |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Technology of Catalytic Processes, Boreskov Institute of Catalysis, SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia;2. Department of Materials Science and Functional Materials, Boreskov Institute of Catalysis, SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia;3. Catalyst Research Department, Boreskov Institute of Catalysis, SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia |
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| Abstract: | Data are presented on the evolution of the morphology of polyethylene (PE) formed via in situ polymerization with different polymer yield over a Ziegler-type titanium-magnesium catalyst anchored on the CNT surface. Individual polymer microparticles are formed on the CNT surface at the initial polymerization stage (the yield of 2.5–10 g PE/g CNT) with the formation of PE/CNT composites having a shish-kebab structure. As the polymer yield increases above 10 g PE per g CNT, the size of microparticles increases and the CNT surface gets totally covered with the polymer. We have found also a great effect produced by the morphology of initial CNT particle aggregates of individual nanotubes on the morphology of macroparticles in PE/CNT composites and the uniformity of CNTs distribution in PE/CNT composites. In the case of CNT samples with a loose structure of macroparticles (aggregates of entangled nanotubes), it is possible to obtain a homogeneous distribution of nanotubes in the polymer matrix of composites and increase the electrical conductivity of composites by 1–8 orders of magnitude by varying the CNT content in the composites from 0.9 to 2.8 wt%. |
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| Keywords: | catalysts graphene and fullerenes microscopy morphology nanotubes polyolefins |
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