CURRENT DEVELOPMENT STUDIES OF SINGLE-WALLED CARBON NANOTUBE REFERENCE MATERIAL AT NATIONAL INSTITUE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGYG (NIST)

摘要

Carbon nanotubes are promising candidates for nu- merous applications because of very unique nanostruc- tures and possess remarkable mechanical and electronic properties. Also carbon nanotubes (CNT) are one of the first major nanoscale manufactured products to enter the market. Therefore, reliable and reproducible quantitative measurement and characterization of carbon nanotube samples are important for progress in understanding of these materials and the development of new applications incorporating these materials. An additional value is the development of an information base for CNT toxicology. For this reason there is an urgent need for standards for carbon nanotube (CNT) manufacturers, as well as for sci- entific and health-related investigations done with CNTs. In response to this need, we are in the process of develop- ing a single-walled carbon nanotube reference material (SWNT). We were involved in the characterization of a candidate SWNT reference material for elemental content using instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and cold neutron prompt gamma activation analysis (CNPGAA).