Coupling activity of ionic liquids between diene

CARBON

4 7 ( 2 0 0 9 ) 3 3 1 3 –3 3 2 1

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Coupling activity of ionic liquids between diene elastomers and multi-walled carbon nanotubes A. Das a b

a,*

, K.W. Sto¨ckelhuber a, R. Jurk a, J. Fritzsche b, M. Klu¨ppel b, G. Heinrich

a

Leibniz-Institut fu¨r Polymerforschung Dresden e.V., Germany Deutsches Institut fu¨r Kautschuktechnologie Hannover e.V., Germany

A R T I C L E I N F O

A B S T R A C T

Article history:

In order to ensure better rubber/multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) compatibility and

Received 12 May 2009

to enhance the dispersibility, a series of ionic liquids has been tested in regard to an

Accepted 29 July 2009

improved interaction between rubber and carbon nanotubes. We found that in the pres-

Available online 3 August 2009

ence of especially one ionic liquid, namely, 1-allyl-3-methyl imidazolium chloride, for the blend of solution-styrene-butadiene and polybutadiene rubber, used as basic elastomer, a three fold increase of tensile strength was achieved with only 3 wt.% MWCNT loading. At this low concentration of MWCNTs the sample can be stretched up to 456% without mechanical failure. The use of this ionic liquid additionally results in higher electrical conductivity (102 S cm1) at low concentration (