Publication
Title
Ultrasonication-induced extraction of inner shells from double-wall carbon nanotubes characterized via in situ spectroscopy after density gradient ultracentrifugation
Author
Abstract
Even though ultrasonication is considered to be an effective method to disperse carbon nanotubes (CNTs), its devastating effects on the nanotubes are often neglected. Here, even mild ultrasonication is found to rapidly extract the inner single-wall CNTs (SWCNTs) from the outer shells of the double-wall CNTs (DWCNTs). As-synthesized DWCNTs are gently solubilized in a surfactant solution, strictly avoiding any ultrasonication, followed by two consecutive density gradient ultracentrifugation (DGU) steps to obtain a purified colloidal solution of isolated DWCNTs. The latter is carefully selected based on in situ resonant Raman (RRS) and fluorescence (PL) spectroscopy, measured as a function of depth directly in the ultracentrifuge tube after DGU. These purified DWCNTs are ultrasonicated in successive time steps while intermittently probing the sample via RRS and PL spectroscopy. These results unravel the very fast increasing, yet saturating extraction mechanism that leads to the formation of fluorescing SWCNTs. A statistical high-resolution transmission electron microscopy study confirms the drastic increase in SWCNTs after ultrasonication, and evidences that ultrasonication forms SWCNTs from both the inner and outer shells of the DWCNTs. This study demonstrates how easily ultrasonication extracts SWCNTs from individually solubilized DWCNTs, unavoidably complicating any further spectroscopic studies on DWCNTs severely.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Carbon. - Oxford
Publication
Oxford : 2021
ISSN
0008-6223
DOI
10.1016/J.CARBON.2021.07.075
Volume/pages
185 (2021) , p. 113-125
ISI
000702922800011
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Project info
Hyperspectral imaging of the endo- and exohedral interactions of molecules with single-wall carbon nanotubes.
Order in one dimension: Functional hybrids of chiralitysorted carbon nanotubes (ORDERin1D).
Separation and high-resolution spectroscopic characterisation of carbon nanotubes and nanocomposites.
Nonlinear Optics of Bistable Molecules and One-Dimensional Arrays.
Functional Carbon Nanotube Nanohybrids: from Synthesis to Advanced Spectroscopic Characterization
Functional Hybrids of Carbon Nanotubes
TunabLe pulsed And continuouS-wavE laseR facility (T-LASER).
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 23.09.2021
Last edited 17.11.2024
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