Web Release Date: January 26,
Spontaneous Exfoliation of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Dispersed Using a Designed Amphiphilic Peptide
School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland, School of Electronics & Physical Sciences, University of Surrey, Surrey GU2 7XH, United Kingdom, School of Chemistry, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland, Chemistry Department and Alan G. MacDiarmid NanoTech Institute, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas, and Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN), Trinity College Dublin, University of Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
Received October 25, 2007
Revised December 11, 2007
Abstract:
We have observed concentration dependent exfoliation of single-walled carbon nanotubes dispersed in solutions of the synthetic peptide nano-1. As the nanotube concentration is reduced, the bundle diameters tend to decrease before saturating at <2.0 nm for concentrations below 6 × 10−3 mg/mL. The fraction of individual nanotubes increases with decreasing concentration, saturating at ~95% at low concentration. This concentration dependent exfoliation happens even if the dispersions are not sonicated on dilution, albeit over a longer time scale. The populations both of individual nanotubes and of bundles are much higher than expected at high concentrations, indicating the presence of repulsive internanotube interactions stabilizing the dispersions.
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