Formation of Efficient Catalytic Silver Nanoparticles on Carbon Nanotubes by Adenine Functionalization

摘要

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are currently receiving enormous attention as advanced nanomaterials, mainly because of their conductive, thermal, mechanical, and chemical properties.'11 CNTs can be employed in composites, transistors, or sophisticated electrodes, to mention just a few applications. In addition, because of their nanoscale dimensions and high aspect ratio, CNTs have a huge surface area, which may be exploited to achieve efficient catalytic processes. However, the difficult handling and the lack of complete control over the CNTs inhibit their use on a large scale. In this respect, extraordinary progress has been achieved in the field of chemical functionalization of CNTs. The modification of the CNT surface by using a wide variety of chemical approaches, and the combination of the different physico-chemical properties have allowed the fast development of CNTs as a support for growing catalytic metal nanoparti-cles.