Microwave induced reactive base wash for the removal of oxidation debris from carboxylated carbon nanotubes

摘要

Removal of oxidation debris for generating high purity functionalized carbon nanotubes (CNTs) has been a challenge, where base washing has been found to be an effective purification treatment. In this paper we report microwave induced reactive base wash (MRW) as a fast, green alternate to conventional filtrate washing. Carboxylated CNTs of three different dimensions were subjected to MRW and the results were compared to conventional base-wash. The results showed that MRW was an effective method for the removal of oxidation debris which reduced the reaction time from 4 h to 20 mm and alkali consumption by 75%. The CNTs from MRW were similar to those from conventional base wash in terms of dimensions, elemental composition, BET surface area and colloidal stability in aqueous media. (c) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.