Block copolymers from ionic liquids for the preparation of thin carbonaceous shells

• Main Authors: Sadaf Hanif, Bernd Oschmann, Dmitri Spetter, Muhammad Nawaz Tahir, Wolfgang Tremel, Rudolf Zentel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Beilstein-Institut 2017-08-01
• Series: Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry
• Subjects: block copolymer; carbon; ionic liquid; polymeric ionic liquid; RAFT polymerization
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3762/bjoc.13.163

This paper describes the controlled radical polymerization of an ionic-liquid monomer by RAFT polymerization. This allows the control over the molecular weight of ionic liquid blocks in the range of 8000 and 22000 and of the block-copolymer synthesis. In this work we focus on block copolymers with an anchor block. They can be used to control the formation of TiO2 nanoparticles, which are functionalized thereafter with a block of ionic-liquid polymer. Pyrolysis of these polymer functionalized inorganic nanoparticles leads to TiO2 nanoparticles coated with a thin carbonaceous shell. Such materials may, e.g., be interesting as battery materials.