Dispersions of individual single-walled carbon nanotubes of high length.
In summary, we have presented a suitable approach to obtain surfactant-stabilized suspensions of long, individually dispersed SWCNTs essentially free of bundles. The combination of mild tip and bath ultrasonication has proven effective in unbundling the SWCNT ropes and, at the same time, in minimizing tube shortening. This method is expected to be useful for applications that critically depend on the availability of bulk dispersions of long, individual tubes with minimized defect densities, such as for nanotube-based electronics and composite materials. Furthermore, the observed purification-induced changes in the electronic structure of HiPco SWCNTs indicate that care has to be taken when comparing their properties with those of the as-produced material.
Max-Planck-Institut fuer Festkoerperforschung, Heisenbergstrasse 1, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany.
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