Selective Enrichment of (n,m) Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Via Cosurfactant Extraction

Highly selective enrichment of (6,5) and (8,3) SWCNTs (above 85% of the semiconducting tubes) was achieved

through multistep extraction by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and sodium cholate (SC) cosurfactant solution

from narrowly (n,m) distributed SWCNTs produced by the catalyst Co-MCM-41. A systematic change in

the chirality selectivity was observed when the weight ratio between SDS and SC varied in cosurfactant

solutions, with maximum enrichment selectivity for (6,5) tubes yielded at 1:4. Furthermore, surfactants were

washed away easily to produce “clean” SWCNTs. This observation sheds light on the possibility of obtaining

SWCNTs with the desired (n,m) structure via an easily scalable approach. No selectivity was detected when

using sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS)/SC cosurfactants, hence suggesting the need for further

exploration of various cosurfactant combinations for more effective extraction of different (n,m) species.

Reference:

ACS Nano VOL 1(4) 327–336 2007

Journal of Physcial Chemistry B 2008, 112, 2771-2774