Hydrothermal method oxidized carbon nanotube: Properties and performances in epoxy composite

Further modifications to carbon nanotube (CNT) are often necessary in various application scenarios, however, polluting oxidation processes are typically difficult to be avoided. Efforts were devoted to developing green and facile methods to oxidize CNT. Herein, A hydrothermal process for efficient and eco-friendly oxidization of CNT was explored. The oxidized CNTs were carefully characterized to get clear the transformation in both chemical and physical properties. By comparing both the strength and the toughness of the composites obtained after introducing the oxidized CNTs into epoxy matrices, the oxidation effect was further verified. The strengthening and toughening mechanisms were then studied and attributed to the nicely built chemical and physical interactions. Compared with the concentrated HNO3 oxidized CNT, the hydrothermal method oxidized CNT performed much better reinforcing ability to epoxy, which suggested great potentials for the green hydrothermal method to replace the polluting concentrated HNO3 oxidation method to fabricate high-performance CNT/epoxy composites.