ja5b01704_si_001.pdf (1.19 MB)
H‑Bonded Supramolecular Polymer for the Selective Dispersion and Subsequent Release of Large-Diameter Semiconducting Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes
journal contribution
posted on 2015-04-08, 00:00 authored by Igor Pochorovski, Huiliang Wang, Jeremy I. Feldblyum, Xiaodong Zhang, Alexander L. Antaris, Zhenan BaoSemiconducting, single-walled
carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are promising
candidates for applications in thin-film transistors, solar cells,
and biological imaging. To harness their full potential, however,
it is necessary to separate the semiconducting from the metallic SWNTs
present in the as-synthesized SWNT mixture. While various polymers
are able to selectively disperse semiconducting SWNTs, the subsequent
removal of the polymer is challenging. However, many applications
require semiconducting SWNTs in their pure form. Toward this goal,
we have designed a 2-ureido-6[1H]-pyrimidinone (UPy)-based
H-bonded supramolecular polymer that can selectively disperse semiconducting
SWNTs. The dispersion purity is inversely related to the dispersion
yield. In contrast to conventional polymers, the polymer described
herein was shown to disassemble into monomeric units upon addition
of an H-bond-disrupting agent, enabling isolation of dispersant-free,
semiconducting SWNTs.