Patent ID: 7879940

Claim:
A method comprising: a) providing aryl halide functionalized carbon nanotubes; wherein the aryl halide comprises a halide selected from the group consisting of chlorine, bromine, iodine, and combinations thereof; b) dispersing the aryl halide functionalized carbon nanotubes in a solvent; c) adding an alkyllithium species to the solvent, wherein the alkyllithium species reacts with the aryl halide functionalized carbon nanotubes to form an aryl-lithium species; wherein the aryl-lithium species comprises a polymerizable species on the carbon nanotubes; and wherein the polymerizable species comprises aryl-lithium covalent bonds; d) adding a monomer to the solvent; and e) initiating a polymerization reaction between the monomer and the polymerizable species to form a polymer-carbon nanotube material, wherein a polymer comprising the polymer-carbon nanotube material is covalently bound to the carbon nanotubes; and wherein the polymerization reaction is selected from the group consisting of anionic polymerization and ring opening polymerization.