Functionalization of carbon nanotubes for polymer nanocomposites

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are excellent candidates for substituting or complementing conventional nanofillers in the fabrication of multifunctional polymer nanocomposites owing to their unique electronic, thermal and mechanical properties. The critical challenge is to uniformly disperse and exfoliate CNTs into polymers to achieve good matrix/nanotube adhesion that maximizes the transfer of the nanotube properties to the polymer matrix. However, many potential applications have been prevented due to the poor dispersion of CNTs and the weak matrix/CNT interface interaction. Functionalization of CNTs provides an effective means to optimize the physical-mechanical properties of polymer-CNT nanocomposites. In this chapter, we summarize various functionalization techniques, including non-covalent and covalent methodologies, with particular emphasis on the dispersion of CNTs and the interface interaction in polymer-CNT nanocomposites.