Quantitative evaluation of the octadecylamine-assisted bulk separation of semiconducting and metallic single-wall carbon nanotubes by resonance Raman spectroscopy

Abstract

The selective stabilization of octadecylamine (ODA) on semiconducting (S) single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) has been reported to provide a means for the bulk separation of S from metallic (M) SWNTs. Utilizing resonance Raman spectroscopy and, in particular, the relative changes in the integrated intensities of the radial-breathing mode region, a generic method has been developed to provide quantitative evaluation of the separation efficiency between M and S SWNTs along with diameter separation. The ODA-assisted separation is shown to provide S enrichment by a factor of 5 for SWNTs prepared by high pressure CO decomposition and greater S enrichment for SWNTs with diameters below 1nm.