Grafting of Polymers onto a Carbon Black Surface by the Trapping of Polymer Radicals

The grafting of polymers onto a carbon black surface based on the trapping of polymer radicals by polycondensed aromatic rings of the surface was investigated. It was found that polymer radicals formed by the thermal decomposition of azo-polymer, peroxy-polymer and 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinyl-1-oxy-terminated polymer are successfully captured by a carbon black surface to give the corresponding polymer-grafted carbon blacks. The grafting of polymers onto carbon black was also achieved by the trapping of polymer radicals formed by the redox reaction of ceric ions with polymers having hydroxyl groups. It was concluded that surface grafting of polymers onto carbon black is effective when there are few functional groups. The electrical resistance of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)-grafted carbon black thus obtained is increased drastically to about 10–10 times the initial resistance at the melting point of PEO. This may be due to a widening of the gaps between the carbon black particles by melting of PEO. In addition, it was found that the electrical resistance of a crystalline poly(ethylene imine) (PEI)-grafted carbon black drastically increased to 10–10 times the initial resistance in methanol, ethanol and water vapor, but hardly any change in electrical resistance was observed in nhexane or toluene vapor. These results suggest the possibility of detecting a slight change in the crystalline structure of PEI upon absorption of solvent vapor as a large increase in the electrical resistance of the polymer-grafted carbon black. # 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.