A general and efficient route to fabricate carbon nanotube-metal nanoparticles and carbon nanotube-inorganic oxides hybrids

Novel pyrenyl-moieties-decorated hyperbranched polyglycidol (pHBP) is synthesized and utilized for the functionalization of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) via a non-covalent (non-destructive) process. Mediated by a pHBP layer on the CNT sidewall, Au, Ag and Pt nanoparticles and uniform SiO₂, GeO ₂ and TiO₂ coatings are generated in situ and deposited onto the as-prepared CNT/pHBP hybrids, forming versatile homogeneous CNT-based nanohybrid sols. The coverage of metal nanoparticles and oxide coatings is controllable simply by changing the employed amount of precursors. This easy synthetic strategy provides a general and convenient route to efficiently assemble a wide range of metal nanoparticles and inorganic oxide components on the sidewalls of CNTs, and enables the construction of heterogeneous nanostructures with novel functionalities. As a means of demonstrating the versatility of the fabricated hybrid materials, the catalytic function of CNT/pHBP/Pt hybrids towards the reduction of 4-nitrophenol and the incorporation of dye molecules into the CNT/pHBP/SiO₂ matrix resulting in fluorescent nanofibers are investigated. Novel pyrenyl-moieties-decorated hyperbranched polyglycidol (pHBP) is synthesized and utilized to non-covalently functionalize carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Mediated by as-prepared homogeneous CNT/pHBP sols, a variety of CNT/pHBP/metal nanoparticles (Au, Ag and Pt) and CNT/pHBP/inorganic oxide (SiO₂, GeO₂ and TiO₂) nanohybrids are fabricated in situ. This strategy provides a general and versatile route to efficiently synthesize varied CNT-based nanohybrids.