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Progress towards monodisperse single-walled carbon nanotubes

Nature Nanotechnology volume 3, pages 387–394 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

The defining characteristic of a nanomaterial is that its properties vary as a function of its size. This size dependence can be clearly observed in single-walled carbon nanotubes, where changes in structure at the atomic scale can modify the electronic and optical properties of these materials in a discontinuous manner (for example, changing metallic nanotubes to semiconducting nanotubes and vice versa). However, as most practical technologies require predictable and uniform performance, researchers have been aggressively seeking strategies for preparing samples of single-walled carbon nanotubes with well-defined diameters, lengths, chiralities and electronic properties (that is, uniformly metallic or uniformly semiconducting). This review highlights post-synthetic approaches for sorting single-walled carbon nanotubes — including selective chemistry, electrical breakdown, dielectrophoresis, chromatography and ultracentrifugation — and progress towards selective growth of monodisperse samples.

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Figure 1: Typical carbon nanotube structures.
Figure 2: Strategies for chemically functionalizing SWNTs.

© 2002 WILEY

Figure 3: Dielectrophoresis of SWNTs.

© 2003 AAAS

Figure 4: Chromatographic sorting of SWNTs.

© 2007 ACS

Figure 5: Sorting SWNTs using density gradient ultracentrifugation (DGU).

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the US Army Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (DAMD17-05-1-0381), the National Science Foundation (DMR-0520513, EEC-0647560, and DMR-0706067), and the Department of Energy (DE-FG02-03ER15457). An Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship is also acknowledged. M.C.H. also thanks M. S. Arnold and A. A. Green for helpful discussions.

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    Mark C. Hersam

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Hersam, M. Progress towards monodisperse single-walled carbon nanotubes. Nature Nanotech 3, 387–394 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2008.135

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