Defect induced modification in thermal property of Regioreguler Poly(3-hexylthiophene) nanotube composites

The interaction particularly, interfacial bonding between polymer and filler has remained a crucial phenomenon to be understood to optimize their uses in many practical applications. Up to now, most of the work is on the chemical fuctionalization for improving nanotube/matrix interaction. In this paper, we studied the effects of ion irradiation induced defects on thermal behaviors of Poly(3-hexylthiophene) nanotube composites using Thermogravimetry Analysis (TGA) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). Where, the irradiation is used to introduce the defects in a control way on pristine nanotube before composite formation. Several interesting effects were observed; including thermal stability enhancement and defects induced enhanced interaction between nanotube and polymer, and substantial changes in spectroscopic behaviors of the composites due to irradiation.