title: Wrapping of single-walled carbon nanotubes by a pi-conjugated polymer: the role of polymer conformation-controlled size selectivity.
abstract: Wrapping of a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) was examined by using a poly[( m-phenylenevinylene)- alt-( p-phenylenevinylene)] (PmPV) derivative. The polymer's intrinsic ability in forming a helical conformation was found to play an essential role in the separation of nanotubes. Among about 15 tubes present in the pure SWNT (HiPcoTM) sample, the polymer was found to selectively pick up the tubes (11,6), (11,7) and (12,6), which correspond to tube diameters of 1.19, 1.25 and 1.24 nm, respectively. The SWNTs of smaller diameters were held loosely by the PmPV, and were gradually dropped out under centrifugation. The suspension solution prepared from the SWNT and PmPV was not permanently stable, with precipitation occurring after a few weeks. Irradiation in the UV-vis region exhibited a catalytic effect to shorten the precipitation time to hours. Those tubes, which were held loosely by PmPV, were quickly separated from the suspension during the irradiation process.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325, USA.
authors.forename: Wenhui
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.forename: Andrey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Malkovskiy
authors.forename: Qinghui
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: Alexei P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Sokolov
authors.forename: Marisabel Lebron
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Colon
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meador
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Pang