A hybrid enrichment process combining conjugated polymer extraction and silica gel adsorption for high purity semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT)Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c5nr04851f

• Main Authors: Ding, Jianfu, Li, Zhao, Lefebvre, Jacques, Cheng, Fuyong, Dunford, Jeffrey L, Malenfant, Patrick R. L, Humes, Jefford, Kroeger, Jens
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2040-3364; 2040-3372
• DOI: 10.1039/c5nr04851f

A novel purification process for the enrichment of sc-SWCNTs that combines selective conjugated polymer extraction (CPE) with selective adsorption using silica gel, termed hybrid-CPE (h-CPE), has been developed, providing a high purity sc-SWCNT material with a significant improvement in process efficiency and yield. Using the h-CPE protocol, a greater than 5 fold improvement in yield can be obtained compared to traditional CPE while obtaining sc-SWCNT with a purity >99.9% as assessed by absorption spectroscopy and Raman mapping. Thin film transistor devices using the h-CPE derived sc-SWCNTs as the semiconductor possess mobility values ranging from 10-30 cm 2 V −1 s −1 and current ON/OFF ratio of 10 4 -10 5 for channel lengths between 2.5 and 20 μm. A novel process provides sc-SWCNTs in high purity with significant improvement in efficiency and yield.