Rapid, Solventless, Bulk Preparation of Metal Nanoparticle-Decorated Carbon Nanotubes

Abstract

A rapid, solventless method is described for the decoration of carbon nanotubes with metal nanoparticles. The straightforward two-step process utilizes neither reducing agents nor electric current and involves the dry mixing of a precursor metal salt (e.g., a metal acetate) with carbon nanotubes (single- or multi-walled) followed by heating in an inert atmosphere. The procedure is scalable to multigram quantities and generally applicable to various other carbon substrates (e.g., carbon nanofiber, expanded graphite, and carbon black) and many metal salts (e.g., Ag, Au, Co, Ni, and Pd acetates). As a model system, Ag nanoparticle-decorated carbon nanotube samples were prepared under various mixing techniques, metal loading levels, thermal treatment temperatures, and nanotube oxidative acid treatments. These nanohybrids were characterized by a variety of microscopic and spectroscopic techniques. For example, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy indicated that the average size of the Ag nanoparticles has little to do with the thermal treatment temperature but can be easily controlled by varying the Ag loading. Raman spectroscopy illustrated both the metal-nanotube electronic interactions and the surface enhancement effect from the Ag nanoparticle attachment. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy captured the in situ salt-to-metal conversion events on the nanotube surface. The mechanistic implications from the characterization results are discussed.

Palladium nanoparticle-graphene hybrids as active catalysts for the Suzuki reaction

“…3(c)) is higher than that of graphene. Such an enhancement has also been observed in examples of GO [29] and carbon nanotubes [30,31] decorated with metal nanoparticles, indicating a probable chemical interaction or bond between the metal nanoparticles and graphene [29,30]. As the graphene in this study is obtained by chemical reduction of GO, there must be many carbon vacancies and defects [12], which may enhance the interaction between Pd nanoparticles and graphene [32,33].…”

Photoluminescence from SWCNT/Cu Hybrid Nanostructure Synthesized by a Soft Chemical Route

“…This increase in I D /I G factor indicates that Cu nanocrystals have adhered to the SWCNT surfaces via chemical bonding [15]. The position of G mode of pristine SWCNT blue shifted from 1,580 to 1,591 cm −1 on decorating SWCNT walls with Cu nanoparticles.…”

“…CNTs hybridized with metal nanoparticles bring forth a new class of nanostructured materials into focus [6][7][8] because of their unique resultant physical properties. Such CNT/metal nanohybrid materials find wide application in sensor devices [9], as catalysts for fuel cells [10,11], in solar cells [12,13], as fillers [14,15], and so forth. Composites of metal nanoparticles and CNTs have been synthesized by various techniques, which include direct coating or deposition on CNTs of metal nanoparticles, such as Ag, Au, Cu, Pd, and Pt.…”

Ag nanoparticle-decorated single wall carbon nanotube films for photovoltaic applications

“…Indeed, starting at N Lp = 1500, a significant shift of the 2D and G bands was observed [31][32][33][34]. The 2D band is shifted to lower frequency by 6 cm -1 (Fig.…”