Nano hybrid shish-kebab: towards periodically functionalize carbon nanotubes

Both chemical and non-covalent wrapping methods have been used to functionalize carbon nanotubes (CNT). Periodical functionalization of CNT remains a challenging task and few works have been dedicated to this research field. We report a novel method of functionalizing CNT surface using controlled polymer crystallization. CNTs were periodically decorated with polymer lamellar crystals, resulting in ``nano hybrid shish-kebabs'' structure. The periodicity of the polymer lamellae varies from 20 - 70 nm. Both polyethylene and Nylon 6,6 have been successfully decorated on multi-walled as well as single-walled CNTs. This method opens a gateway to functionalizing CNTs in an ordered and controlled manner, an attractive research field that is yet to be explored. It also directly leads to the synthesis of the ``ideal'' polymer/CNT nanocomposites with controllable tube-to-tube distance.