Chromatographic purification and size separation of carbon nanotubes

摘要

The efficient purification of single-wall and multi-wall carbon nanotubes (NTs) by columnar size exclusion chromatography (SEC) is reported. In this process, carbon nanospheres (polyhedra), amorphous carbon and metal particles are removed from aqueous surfactant-stabilised dispersions of NT raw material. TEM and AFM investigations revealed that more than 40-50% of the purified material consists of individual tubes. In addition, length separation of the tubes is achieved.