Outerwall-selectively oxidized, water soluble double-walled carbon nanotubes

The outer walls of double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWNTs) were selectively oxidized using a combination of oleum and nitric acid. Intercalation of oleum between bundled DWNTs enabled a homogeneous reaction by equally exposing all outer wall surfaces to the oxidants. At optimized reaction conditions,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the American Chemical Society 2010-02, Vol.132 (11)
Main Authors: Brozena, Alexandra H., Moskovits, Martin, Shao, Beiyue, Deng, Shunliu, Liao, Hongwei, Gaskell, Karen L., Wang, YuHuang
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
bio-inspired
charge transport
defects
energy storage (including batteries and capacitors)
NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
synthesis (novel materials)
synthesis (scalable processing)
synthesis (self-assembly)
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Summary:The outer walls of double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWNTs) were selectively oxidized using a combination of oleum and nitric acid. Intercalation of oleum between bundled DWNTs enabled a homogeneous reaction by equally exposing all outer wall surfaces to the oxidants. At optimized reaction conditions, this double-wall chemistry enabled high water solubility through carboxylic acid functional groups introduced to the outer wall, while leaving the inner tube intact, as shown by Raman scattering and high resolution TEM. These outer wall selectively oxidized DWNTs retained electrical conductivity up to 65% better than thin films of similarly functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes, which can be attributed to enhanced electrical percolation via the nonoxidized inner tubes.
ISSN:0002-7863
1520-5126
DOI:10.1021/ja910626u