Event Information
Synthesis and Functionalization of Double Walled Carbon Nanotubes and Their Future Applications
- Abstract:
Double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWNT) have been synthesized in high yield and high-purity by our thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. Functionalizaion of DWNT has been performed in simple ways. DWNT sidewalls are functionalized via a dissolving metal reduction method. Carbanion complexes of lithium were prepared in THF and reacted with alkylated halogenides and different polymer chains, resulting in the formations of alkylated and polymer-grafted nanotube derivatives, respectively. The product could be soluble in organic solvent such as THF, DMF and CHCl3 etc and the soluble DWNT will have improved nanotube-polymer matrix interactions, leading to high performance composites. Further research will focus on exploiting the mechanical properties of CNTs-epoxy composite materials. In addition, an improved process is presented to functionalize carbon nanotubes by potassium permanganate under sonication. The higher reaction efficiency as well as mild reaction conditions leads to a higher yield of water soluble DWNT preparation, with the inner wall intact. Evidence for fluorescence from our small diameter DWNT has been provided. Future work will be the investigating the fluorescence of water soluble DWNTs and thus their biomedical applications.
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