Bhanu P. S. Chauhan*, Alok Sarkar, Bharthi Balagam, and Alla Yegereva. Nanomaterials Laboratory of Center for Engineered Polymeric Materials, Department of Chemistry, City University of New York, Staten Island, NY
A new synthetic route for the ferrocene-grafted silyl-functional polybutadienes has been developed using Pt-nanocluster catalysis. The metallocene unit has been incorporated into the polymer side chain of hydrosilylated polybutadiene (PBD-SiH) via hydrosilylation reaction of vinylferrocene (scheme). The structure and regioselectivity of new ferrocene based polymers were determined using multinuclear NMR techniques such as 1H, 13C and 29Si NMR. The chain-length properties of the polymers were investigated using Gel Permeable Chromatography (GPC). The thermal behavior of these ferrocene functional polymers was studied by TGA, DTA and DSC techniques. The electro chemical behavior of synthesized compounds has been studied by cyclic voltametry. The morphological properties of ferrocene-functional polymers have been studied by various electron microscopic techniques such Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The AFM, SEM and TEM observation of these polymer systems has shown the self-assembling of the polymers into spherical nanostructures of 60-100nm. After the pyrolysis of ferrocene polymer (>500 �C) the AFM studies has shown iron nanoparticles in the range of 150-200 nm.
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