Journal article
Precision Grafting-From of Diblock Copolymer Brushes on MXene Nanosheets
Chemistry of materials, v 37(20), pp 8238-8251
13 Oct 2025
Abstract
2D MXene materials offer outstanding optical, electrical, and mechanical properties, which can be used to produce multifunctional high-performance polymer–matrix composites. Here, we demonstrate the fabrication of robust covalently bonded polymer shells via the implementation of surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) on heterogeneous 2D nanosheets. This robust grafting-from methodology was demonstrated through selective esterification of hydroxyl groups on Ti3C2Tx MXene with 2-bromoisobutyryl bromide. This approach enables the synthesis of diblock polymer brushes with sequential hydrophobic and hydrophilic blocks with predetermined, narrowly dispersed molecular weight and a low polydispersity index firmly bonded to the nanosheet surface. The high molecular weight of diblock copolymers was achieved by a precise design of molecular compositions (block ratio). By combining selective chain cleavage and monitoring the evolution of polymer shell morphology, we confirmed that the growth of polymer brushes falls in the near-brush regime with a high grafting density of 0.18–0.25 chains/nm2 and shell thickness of 20–50 nm. Compared to common grafting-to and physical adsorption processes, the key benefits of this grafting-from approach lie in combining the 2D MXene nanosheets with the versatility of firmly grafted diblock copolymer functionalities and a core–shell brush architecture where MXene’s inherent structure is protected in harsh chemical environments.
Metrics
11 Record Views
Details
- Title
- Precision Grafting-From of Diblock Copolymer Brushes on MXene Nanosheets
- Creators
- Jinyoung Choi - Georgia Institute of TechnologyMykhailo Yelipashev - Georgia Institute of TechnologyValeriia Poliukhova - Georgia Institute of TechnologyJames FitzPatrick - Nanomaterials Research (United States)Yury Gogotsi - Nanomaterials Research (United States)Zhiqun Lin - National University of SingaporeVladimir V. Tsukruk (Corresponding Author) - Georgia Institute of Technology
- Publication Details
- Chemistry of materials, v 37(20), pp 8238-8251
- Publisher
- ACS Publications
- Number of pages
- 14
- Grant note
- National Science Foundation: CHE 2200366, CBET 2202907 U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF): CHE-2318105 NSF
This study was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) awards CHE 2200366 and CBET 2202907. Research on the chemistry of MXenes at Drexel University was supported by the NSF grant CHE-2318105 (M-STAR CCI).
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Materials Science and Engineering
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:001592255500001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-105019920535
- Other Identifier
- 991022123474604721
InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Chemistry, Physical
- Materials Science, Multidisciplinary