Effective Solubilization of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes in THF Using PEGylated Corannulene Dispersant

Abstract

PEG-derivatized corannulene compound has been found to be very effective in solubilizing single-walled carbon nanotubes in tetrahydrofuran. Solubilizing efficiency is close to the commonly used anionic surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). Corannulene derivative has also been found to have a tendency to disperse metallic nanotubes more effectively than the SDS counterpart. Theoretical calculations predict higher dispersion interactions of corannulene backbone with the convex surface of nanotubes in comparison to those calculated with other commonly used polyaromatic hydrocarbon derivatives.

Photo-induced Aggregation of Single-walled Carbon Nanotubes from Dispersion by Using a Photochromic Dispersant

“…We focused here on the ratio of Gband intensity to G + band intensity (I G-/I G+ ). Since I G-/I G+ value indicates the degree of metallic SWNTs existence, some studies which discuss the selectivity of dispersant to specific SWNTs has been reported [8]. Meanwhile, the ratio of D band intensity to G band intensity (I D /I G ) value is helpful to determine the degree of impurity such as defect of SWNTs and amorphous carbon [29].…”

“…This represents a significant obstacle to purify carbon nanotubes and fabricate carbon nanotube devices, and the techniques for individually dispersing carbon nanotubes have being actively researched. For example, the individual dispersion of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) without molecular modification can be achieved by adsorption of surfactants [2][3][4][5][6] or ionic liquid surfactants [7] in aqueous or organic solvents [8]. Block co-polymers [9] and DNA [10] can also produce the individual dispersion of SWNTs.…”

Buckybowls: Corannulene and Its Derivatives

“…Corannulene decorated by polyethylene glycol (PEG) (PEGylated corannulene) was found to be a very effective dispersant for single‐wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) in THF . The efficiency of PEGylated corannulene for SWCNTs is close to the commonly used anionic surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS).…”

Morphology and dispersion of polycarbazole wrapped carbon nanotubes

“…The MM3 force-eld is known for reasonable predictions of the sp 2 -hybridized structures of many conjugated molecules. 33 However, MM3 lacks adequate parameters to model the pyrrole rings in the carbazole oligomers. To solve this, MM3-2000 force-eld parameters 34,35 have been modied to reproduce the geometries of the isolated carbazole oligomers obtained from Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations using the B3LYP functional with the 6-31G(d) basis set, as implemented in the GAUSSIAN-09 soware package.…”