Purification-induced sidewall functionalization of magnetically pure single-walled carbon nanotubes

Abstract

In this contribution we present systematic studies on the purification and subsequent functionalization of magnetically pure single-walled carbon nanotubes. We show through a combination of burning treatments and microwave digester treatments in aqua regia that single-walled carbon nanotubes can be purified without incurring any damage, with 90 wt% of catalyst material being removed. It is also shown that multiple microwave digester treatments lead to incremental functionalization of the nanotubes. The obtained functional groups are easily removed by annealing the sample in vacuum.