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Structural control of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with uniform properties is critical not only for their property modulation and functional design but also for applications in electronics, optics, and optoelectronics. To achieve this goal, various separation techniques have been developed in the past 20 years through which separation of high-purity semiconducting/metallic SWCNTs, single-chirality species, and even their enantiomers have been achieved. This progress has promoted the property modulation of SWCNTs and the development of SWCNT-based optoelectronic devices. Here, the recent advances in the structure separation of SWCNTs are reviewed, from metallic/semiconducting SWCNTs, to single-chirality species, and to enantiomers by several typical separation techniques and the application of the corresponding sorted SWCNTs. Based on the separation procedure, efficiency, and scalability, as well as, the separable SWCNT species, purity, and quantity, the advantages and disadvantages of various separation techniques are compared. Combined with the requirements of SWCNT application, the challenges, prospects, and development direction of structure separation are further discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intersubband plasmons (ISBPs) of single‐wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) endow SWCNT‐based optoelectronic devices with more functions. However, the structural dependence of the ISBPs of SWCNTs is not fully understood. Here, the effect of electronic types and diameters of SWCNTs on the energy and intensity of their ISBPs is investigated systematically. The results show that the ISBP energy of semiconducting SWCNTs is ≈50–250 meV larger than that of metallic SWCNTs with the same diameters, while the ISBP integral intensity is approximately 1.25 to 4 times stronger. Diameter dependence of ISBPs for both semiconducting and metallic SWCNTs is also observed. With a decrease in diameter, the ISBPs shift to higher energies, while the intensity decreases dramatically. When the diameter is reduced to less than 1 nm, the ISBPs become unobservable. Interestingly, the energy separation between the ISBPs and interband transition S22 (M11) decreases with an increase in diameter. Theoretical calculations show that the structure‐dependent ISBP characteristics are dominated by the electronic states of SWCNTs. Based on the ISBP characteristics of different SWCNTs, high‐performance SWCNT‐based near‐infrared electrochromic devices are fabricated by mixing small‐diameter metallic SWCNTs with semiconducting SWCNTs due to their high conductivity and negligible ISBP signals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is strong demand for higher energy density and flexible lithium ion batteries recently. Unfortunately, electrodes built by conventional methods cannot meet these requirements simultaneously due to the large amount of inactive additives needed for sufficient flexibility. Herein, by utilizing a continuous single‐walled carbon nanotube reticulation and designing an all‐in‐one hierarchical configuration, binder‐free electrodes are fabricated via an in situ integration procedure. The electrode exhibits excellent electrochemical performance against up to 20 000 cycles of bending and high energy density (up to 493 Wh kg−1electrode and 820 Wh L−1electrode). The hierarchical configuration takes full diverse advantages of different carbon nanostructures. The as‐obtained novel binder‐free electrodes exhibit not only good cyclability (up to ≈90% capacity retentions after 1500 cycles) with only 4 wt% additive materials, but also show enhanced kinetic process, in comparison to those of traditional electrodes. Furthermore, based on the as‐designed electrodes, flexible cells are assembled and a practical wearable system is fabricated, manifesting that they can be used in a stable and flexible power supply for smart systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The selective interaction is systematically explored between the surfactants (sodium deoxycholate (DOC), sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), and sodium cholate (SC)) and the single‐wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) by the gel chromatography technique. The results show that DOC preferentially interacts with small‐diameter semiconducting SWCNTs (S‐SWCNTs), exhibiting the strongest interaction strength for the SWCNTs, and the highest structural selectivity. The surfactant SC shows high selectivity toward the chiral angles of the SWCNTs. Its interaction strength and structural recognition ability are slightly higher than that of SDS but lower than that of DOC. Combining with the proved selectivity of SDS in the adsorption onto the S‐SWCNTs with small CC bond curvature, it is discovered that the synergistic effect of the triple surfactants amplified the interaction difference among the different SWCNTs and the gel, and thus dramatically improved the separation efficiency and structural purity of the SWCNTs, achieving the separation of distinct (n, m) single‐chirality species and their enantiomers in one step. This work not only provides deeper insights into the separation mechanism of SWCNTs with the surfactant sorting techniques, but also has a profound significance in studying the interaction between the SWCNTs and other small molecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structure separation of synthetic single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) mixture species with diameters larger than 1.2 nm still remains a challenge. Here, an NaOH-assisted gel chromatography method is used for the structure separation of the SWCNT mixture with a diameter range of 1.2-1.7 nm, in which NaOH is used to tune the interaction between distinct ( n, m) SWCNTs and gel. Incrementally increasing NaOH concentration in SWCNT dispersion selectively enhances the adsorbability of different-structure SWCNTs and enlarges their interaction difference with gel, leading to their structure separation after applying into a gel column system. On this basis, a two-step method is developed for further improving the structure purity of the separated SWCNTs by combining overloading and stepwise elution. These results are well demonstrated by the optical spectra of the separated SWCNTs. This work paves a way for single-chirality separation of large-diameter SWCNTs using gel chromatography technique and is an advanced progress in the structure control of SWCNTs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]