Previous approaches used to decorate latently reactive conjugated polymer-coated carbon nanotube complexes have utilized "grafting-to" strategies. Here, we coat the carbon nanotube surface with a conjugated polymer whose side chains contain the radical initiator, alpha-bromoisobutyrate, which enables atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) from the polymer-nanotube surface. Using light to generate Cu(I) in situ, ATRP is used to grow narrow dispersity polymer chains from the polymer-nanotube surface. We confirm the successful polymerization of (meth)acrylates from the polymer-nanotube surface using a combination of gel permeation chromatography and infrared spectroscopy. Strikingly, we demonstrate that nanotube optoelectronic properties are preserved after radical-mediated polymer grafting using Raman spectroscopy and photoluminescence mapping. Overall, this work elucidates a method to grow narrow dispersity polymer chains from the polymer-nanotube surface using light-driven radical chemistry, with concurrent preservation of nanotube optoelectronic properties. (c) 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2019