Highly Exfoliated Water-Soluble Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Abstract

Single-walled carbon nanotubes functionalized by phenyl groups can be sulfonated in oleum (H 2 SO 4, 20% free SO 3 ) to give materials that exhibit high solubility in water as determined by centrifugation in conjunction with UV−vis−near-infrared measurements. Cryo-transmission electron microscopy images show that extensive debundling occurs during the sulfonation step.