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Selective separation of single-walled carbon nanotubes in aqueous solution by assembling redox nanoclusters

Selective separation of single-walled carbon nanotubes in aqueous solution by assembling redox nanoclusters

Authors :
Luyao Zhang
Lei Zhang
Lei Wang
Kun Wang
Xin Zhao
Anquan Zhu
Feng Yang
Tianhui Liu
Xusheng Yang
Source :
Nanoscale. 14:953-961
Publication Year :
2022
Publisher :
Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), 2022.

Abstract

The selective separation of soluble and individual single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) in aqueous solution is a key step for harnessing the extraordinary properties of these materials. Manipulating the strong van der Waals intertube interactions between the SWCNT bundles is very important in selective separation, which is a long-standing challenge. Here we reported the ability of redox polyoxometalate clusters to modulate the intertube π-π stacking interaction through electron transfer and achieved the diameter-selective separation of SWCNTs in a surfactant aqueous solution. The large-diameter SWCNTs concentrated at ∼1.3-1.4 nm were selectively separated when ∼1 nm clusters encapsulated within the tube cavity, and the dispersion of subnanometer ∼0.7-0.9 nm SWCNTs was boosted when clusters were adsorbed on the outer surface of small-diameter nanotubes. The mechanism of diameter-selective separation of SWCNTs associated with the size-dependent interaction between cluster-tubes and the steric hindrance effect of clusters was revealed by optical absorption and Raman spectroscopy. This simple method thus enables the selective separation of individual high-quality SWCNTs in aqueous solutions without harsh sonication with the potential for other separation applications.

Details

ISSN :
20403372 and 20403364
Volume :
14
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Nanoscale
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....5fac2f267f12bc183d25ce9d78936b99
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1039/d1nr04019g