Growth of Carbon Nanotubes on Clay: Unique Nanostructured Filler for High‐Performance Polymer Nanocomposites

Abstract

High-performance composites are produced using nanostructured clay–carbon nanotube (CNT) hybrids as a reinforcing filler. The intercalation of iron particles between the clay platelets serves as the catalyst for the growth of CNTs, while the platelets are exfoliated by the CNTs, forming the unique 3D nanostructured hybrid filler: a 2D clay platelet with several attached 1D CNTs (see Figure). The clay–CNTs hybrid can be directly incorporated into nylon-6 by simple melt compounding.