Single-walled carbon nanotubes fractionation via electrophoresis

This work presents the influence of the sonication time on the efficiency of the metallic/semiconducting (M/S) fractionation of diazonium salt functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) via free solution electrophoresis (FSE) method. The SWCNTs synthesized via laser ablation were purified from amorphous carbon and catalyst particles through high vacuum annealing and subsequent refluxing processes in aqua regia solutions, respectively. The purified material was divided into two batches. The SWCNTs samples were dispersed in 1% SDS solution in ultrasound bath for 2 and 12 hours. Both dispersed SWCNTs samples were functionalized with p-aminobenzoic acid diazonium salt and fractionated via free solution electrophoresis method. Afterwards, the fractionated samples were recovered, purified from surfactant/functionalities by annealing and investigated via UV-Vis-NIR optical absorption spectroscopy (OAS). The efficiency of the fractionation process was estimated through the comparison of the van Hove singularities (vHS) presented in the obtained fractions to the starting SWCNTs.