Polycondensation of Hexamethylenetetramine in Anhydrous Acid Media as a New Approach to Carbyne-Like Materials and Its Application as Dispersant of Carbon Materials

Abstract

Aminocumulene (AC), a technical name that results from the hexamethylenetetramine polycondensation in anhydrous sulfuric acid, was successfully performed toward the synthesis of oligomeric cumulenic compounds made up of carbyne-like (=C=C)x fragments as a main moiety together with amino endcapping groups. The tentative mechanism for the synthesis of the soluble and insoluble AC likely included the participation of carbene species as an intermediate. Spectral properties obtained from UV-Vis, infrared, and Raman spectroscopies, and surface chemistry analysis through X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of the soluble AC confirmed the presence of a mixture of linear and branched aminocumulene-based oligomers. AC displayed high performance as a dispersant and stabilizer agent of both multi-walled carbon nanotubes and graphene in aqueous solutions after powerful insonation treatment under controlled temperature compared to the most commonly used dispersant agents. Thereby, AC is vitally important for the preparation of carbonaceous materials based on nanoinks in a wide variety of fields.