Carbon nanotubes were dispersed and functionalized with polyethylene imine (PEI) before incorporation in a polyvinyl acetate matrix. The resulting samples exhibit air-stable N-type characteristics with electrical conductivities as great as 1600 S/m and thermopowers as high as 100 microV/K. Thermopowers and electrical conductivities correlate, in a reversal of the trend found in typical materials. This phenomenon is believed to be due to the increase in the number of tubes that are evenly coated in a better dispersed sample. Increasing the amount of PEI relative to the other constituents positively affects thermopower but not conductivity. Air exposure reduces both thermopower and conductivity, but a stable value is reached within seven days following film fabrication. The atmospheric effects on the electrical conductivity prove to be reversible. Oxygen is believed to be the primary contributor to the decay.

Nanoparticles promise many interesting applications because of their exceptional chemical and physical properties. Therefore nanoparticles offer a pathway for the fabrication of new functional, smart materials. Since the primary particle strongly tends to strong agglomeration, and since the surface of nanoparticles is often not compatible with polymers, it is not possible to disperse single particles homogeneously in a polymer melt. Formations of agglomerates are responsible for strong differences in concentration of the nanoparticles in the material matrix and therefore impede a homogeneous property profile. Furthermore properties of compounds are not only determined by single components, but considerably by the interface between these single components. Hence, a strong chemical and physical adhesion between the constituents is required. Thus, surface modification of nanoparticles is a crucial issue. This work focuses on the control of the particle/polymer interface in composite materials which has a thickness of some nanometers. This interface regulates the compatibility of the surface of the nanoparticles and their environment. This interface is also the place where the transmission of energy between nanoparticle and polymer occurs. The interlayer of this boundary surface should be occupied with functional “primer”-macromolecules that provide at least two types of functional groups: one species of functional group should assure the bonding of the primer to the surface of the nanoparticle, and the second type enables the compatibilizing to the matrix, and when indicated also the covalent adhesion to the ambient polymer system. The macromolecular scaffold of the primer permits the selective adjustment of important interface properties as elasticity, durability and the surface energy of the particle – matrix interface. Within this thesis hyperbranched polyethylene (PEI) imine was used as starting platform for “Quat-Primer Polymers” bearing a multitude of functional moieties in form of primary, secondary and tertiary amino groups. Chapter 2 gives a literature – review on hyperbranched polymers – with focus on PEI, stabilization of colloids by polymers, as well as polymer – “nanocomposites”. In Chapter 3 the reaction of PEI with glycidyltrimethylammonium chloride will be described to obtain hyperbranched polymers that consist of (i) the hyperbranched PEI scaffold, (ii) primary, secondary and tertiary amino groups that can be used for further modification reactions with amino-reactive compounds, and (iii) ammonium moieties that can adsorb to negatively charged surfaces. It will be shown that these Quat-Primer polymers have the ability to stabilize several nanoparticles in water to form aqueous dispersions and that they are capable to partially deagglomerate nanoparticles leading to smaller diameters of the particles in the dispersion. Additionally the reaction of hyperbranched polyethylene imine with glycidol will be described displaying a possibility to change the reactivity of the functional groups and exhibiting that also the generated hydroxyl groups generated by the ring-opening reaction of epoxides with PEI react with epoxide rings to form ether linkages. In Chapter 4 the synthesis of several amino-reactive ATRP initiators will be described and two methods to graft PMMA arms to “Quat-Primer polymers” presented in the previous chapter including the “grafting from” and the “grafting to” technique. These synthesized Quat-Primer polymers bearing ammonium moieties, as well as PMMA arms can be used to fabricate PMMA nanocomposites with homogeneously distributed nanoparticles. The developed method allow for grafting monomers that can be used in ATRP polymerization, including acrylates, acrylonitriles and styrenes, to hyperbranched polyethylene imine. Chapter 5 will display pathways to graft caprolactam derivatives to hyperbranched polyethylene imine to generate Quat-Primer polymers bearing ammonium moieties, as well as caprolactam rings. These quat-primer polymers can be used for the fabrication of PA-6 nanocomposites by dispersing nanoparticles in presence of these Quat-Primer polymers and subsequent polymerization.