ja044537e_si_002.zip (16.74 MB)
Controlled Oxidative Cutting of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes
dataset
posted on 2005-02-09, 00:00 authored by Kirk J. Ziegler, Zhenning Gu, Haiqing Peng, Erica L. Flor, Robert H. Hauge, Richard E. SmalleyThe oxidation reaction of piranha solutions with purified HiPco carbon nanotubes was measured
as a function of temperature. At high temperatures, piranha is capable of attacking existing damage sites,
generating vacancies in the graphene sidewall, and consuming the oxidized vacancies to yield short, cut
nanotubes. Increased reaction time results in increasingly shorter nanotubes. However, significant sidewall
damage occurs as well as selective etching of the smaller diameter nanotubes. On the other hand, room-temperature piranha treatments show the capability of cutting existing damage sites with minimal carbon
loss, slow etch rates, and little sidewall damage. Combined with a method of introducing controlled amounts
of damage sites, these room-temperature piranha solutions have the potential to yield an efficient means
of creating short, cut nanotubes.