Crosslinking hydroxylated reduced graphene oxide with RAFT-CTA: A nano-initiator for preparation of well-defined amino acid-based polymer nanohybrids.

Here, we demonstrate a novel reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer agent (RAFT-CTA)-modified reduced graphene oxide nanosheets (CTA-rGONSs) by crosslinking rGONSs with a RAFT-CTA via esterification reaction. These nano CTA-rGONSs were used to polymerize a hydrophobic amino acid-based methacrylamide (N-acryloyl-l-phenylalanine methyl ester) monomer with different monomer/initiator ratios. Thermogravimetric analysis showed that the polymer-graphene composites were thermally more stable than GO itself. Mn of the polymers increased with increasing monomer/initiator ratio, while the polydispersity index decreased, indicating controlled polymerization. The composites were stable in DMF even after two months.