Emulsion Polymerization of Electrically Conductive Acrylic Pressure Sensitive Adhesives (EPSAs) Containing Modified MWCNTs and Their Properties

In this study, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were oxidized with a mixture of H2SO4:HNO3(3:1 v/v). After oxidation, oxidized MWCNTs were treated with thionyl chloride (SOCl2) and 1,4-butanediol (BD) in sequence at room temperature to introduce hydroxyl groups on the surface of MWCNTs. The prepared MWCNT-OH was silanized with 3-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxylsilane (MPTMS), to introduce polymerizable methacrylate groups to make MWCNT-MPTMS. MWCNT-MPTMS was used for the emulsion polymerization of 2-ethylhexyl acrylate (2-EHA), n-butyl acrylate (n-BA), methyl methacrylate (MN/IA), and acrylic acid (AAc) as monomers to prepare electrically conductive acrylic pressure-sensitive adhesive (EPSA). We found increase of T-g, viscosity, peel strength and tack and decrease of sheet resistivity with increase of MWCNT-MFTMS contents in EPSA from 0 to 0.5 wt%.