Patent ID: 8366970

Claim:
A method for treating a carbon allotrope comprising: providing a carbon allotrope selected from the group consisting of carbon black, amorphous carbon, glassy carbon, graphite, graphene, fullerenes, or a mixture thereof; and surface treating the carbon allotrope by coupling the carbon allotrope with a polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane, wherein the polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane comprises a compound of the formula wherein R 1 , R 2 , R 3 , R 4 , R 6 , R 7 , and R 8 are each, independently of the other, selected from the group consisting of: (a) alkyl, including linear, branched, saturated, unsaturated, cyclic, acyclic, substituted, and unsubstituted alkyl groups, and wherein hetero atoms may optionally be present in the alkyl group; (b) aryl, including substituted and unsubstituted aryl groups, and wherein hetero atoms may optionally be present in the aryl group; (c) arylalkyl, including unsubstituted and substituted arylalkyl groups, wherein the alkyl portion of the arylalkyl group can be linear, branched, saturated, unsaturated, cyclic, or acyclic, and wherein hetero atoms may optionally be present in either or both of the alkyl portion and the aryl portion of the arylalkyl group; (d) alkylaryl, including unsubstituted and substituted alkylaryl groups, wherein the alkyl portion of the alkylaryl group can be linear, branched, saturated, unsaturated, cyclic, or acyclic, and wherein hetero atoms may optionally be present in either or both of the alkyl portion and the aryl portion of the alkylaryl group; (e) siloxyl, including linear, branched, cyclic, acyclic, substituted, and unsubstituted, siloxyl groups, and wherein hetero atoms may optionally be present; (f) silyl, including linear, branched, cyclic, acyclic, substituted, and unsubstituted, silyl groups, and wherein hetero atoms may optionally be present; and wherein R 5 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, hydroxyl, amine, carboxylic acid, epoxide, halide, imide, acrylate, methacrylate, nitrile, sulfonate, thiol, silanol, dibromoethyl, norbornenylethyl, vinyl, chloropropyl, cyanopropyl, mercaptopropyl, aminopropyl, N-methylaminopropyl, propylammonium halide, allyl, chlorobenzyl, aminophenyl, N-phenylaminopropyl, norbornenyl, a group of the formula —(CH 2 CH 2 (OCH 2 CH 2 ) m OCH 3 , wherein m is a number representing the number of repeat OCH 2 CH 2 units, a group of the formula O—N + (CH 3 ) 4 , and combinations thereof.