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The Mechanism of Surfactant Assisted Dispersion of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes in Polyvinylpyrrolidone Solutions

Received: 9 June 2017     Accepted: 26 June 2017     Published: 27 July 2017
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Abstract

Single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are an extremely attractive material due to their unmatched electronic, mechanical, and thermal properties, however; their hydrophobicity results in strong van der Waals interactions. This, combined with extremely high aspect ratios and flexibility, causes SWNTs to adhere strongly into tightly bundled ropes. In these bundles, SWNTs are not as useful as their linearized unbundled equivalents. In this contribution, the characterization of a system containing SWNTS, centrimonium bromide (CTAB) and the polymer, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) is reported. Results indicate that although individually CTAB and PVP are poor dispersants of SWNTs, together they show a synergic effect. Characterizations studies on the obtained SWNT dispersions suggest that the polymer hydrodynamic radius should have a minimum length that corresponds to intertube separation distance to achieve stable nanotube dispersions and that the effective polymer contact area with the suspended nanotube, rather than the polymer molecular weight regulates ability for SWNT dispersion. The results present a series of considerations that are relevant for the use of polymers as nanotube dispersing agents and an overall facile way of augmenting current dispersion techniques, potentially allowing for increased usage of applications of these versatile materials.

Published in Colloid and Surface Science (Volume 2, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.css.20170203.12
Page(s) 96-106
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2017. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWNTs), Dispersion, Surfactant, Polymers, Rheology, Cetyltrimethylammonium Bromide (CTAB), Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)

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    Tennison Yu, Jose Efrain Herrera. (2017). The Mechanism of Surfactant Assisted Dispersion of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes in Polyvinylpyrrolidone Solutions. Colloid and Surface Science, 2(3), 96-106. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.css.20170203.12

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    Tennison Yu; Jose Efrain Herrera. The Mechanism of Surfactant Assisted Dispersion of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes in Polyvinylpyrrolidone Solutions. Colloid Surf. Sci. 2017, 2(3), 96-106. doi: 10.11648/j.css.20170203.12

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    AMA Style

    Tennison Yu, Jose Efrain Herrera. The Mechanism of Surfactant Assisted Dispersion of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes in Polyvinylpyrrolidone Solutions. Colloid Surf Sci. 2017;2(3):96-106. doi: 10.11648/j.css.20170203.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.css.20170203.12,
      author = {Tennison Yu and Jose Efrain Herrera},
      title = {The Mechanism of Surfactant Assisted Dispersion of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes in Polyvinylpyrrolidone Solutions},
      journal = {Colloid and Surface Science},
      volume = {2},
      number = {3},
      pages = {96-106},
      doi = {10.11648/j.css.20170203.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.css.20170203.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.css.20170203.12},
      abstract = {Single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are an extremely attractive material due to their unmatched electronic, mechanical, and thermal properties, however; their hydrophobicity results in strong van der Waals interactions. This, combined with extremely high aspect ratios and flexibility, causes SWNTs to adhere strongly into tightly bundled ropes. In these bundles, SWNTs are not as useful as their linearized unbundled equivalents. In this contribution, the characterization of a system containing SWNTS, centrimonium bromide (CTAB) and the polymer, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) is reported. Results indicate that although individually CTAB and PVP are poor dispersants of SWNTs, together they show a synergic effect. Characterizations studies on the obtained SWNT dispersions suggest that the polymer hydrodynamic radius should have a minimum length that corresponds to intertube separation distance to achieve stable nanotube dispersions and that the effective polymer contact area with the suspended nanotube, rather than the polymer molecular weight regulates ability for SWNT dispersion. The results present a series of considerations that are relevant for the use of polymers as nanotube dispersing agents and an overall facile way of augmenting current dispersion techniques, potentially allowing for increased usage of applications of these versatile materials.},
     year = {2017}
    }
    

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    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.css.20170203.12
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    AB  - Single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are an extremely attractive material due to their unmatched electronic, mechanical, and thermal properties, however; their hydrophobicity results in strong van der Waals interactions. This, combined with extremely high aspect ratios and flexibility, causes SWNTs to adhere strongly into tightly bundled ropes. In these bundles, SWNTs are not as useful as their linearized unbundled equivalents. In this contribution, the characterization of a system containing SWNTS, centrimonium bromide (CTAB) and the polymer, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) is reported. Results indicate that although individually CTAB and PVP are poor dispersants of SWNTs, together they show a synergic effect. Characterizations studies on the obtained SWNT dispersions suggest that the polymer hydrodynamic radius should have a minimum length that corresponds to intertube separation distance to achieve stable nanotube dispersions and that the effective polymer contact area with the suspended nanotube, rather than the polymer molecular weight regulates ability for SWNT dispersion. The results present a series of considerations that are relevant for the use of polymers as nanotube dispersing agents and an overall facile way of augmenting current dispersion techniques, potentially allowing for increased usage of applications of these versatile materials.
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Author Information
  • Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Western University, London, Canada

  • Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Western University, London, Canada

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