Coral-shaped and core-shell structure copolyethylene nanocomposites particles prepared by in situ coordination polymerization

The example of the preparation of nano- and micro-scaled, coral-shaped and core-shell topological morphology of copolyethylene particles promoted by the novel heterogeneous non-metallocene catalyst (m-CH3PhO)TiCl3/carbon nanotubes (CNTs) was reported. Mass fraction of titanium component of the catalyst was 4.0 wt% determined by ICP analysis. The catalyst system can effectively catalyze polymerization of ethylene and copolymerization of ethylene with 1-hexene. Morphological examination of the obtained polymer particles was carried out by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscope (HR-TEM) technique. The results revealed that the morphology of the nascent copolyethylene particles looked like coral shape with size in micro-scaled and featured the core-shell structure consisting of CNTs as the core and copolyethylene as the shell.