Mass Production of High-Purity Semiconducting Carbon Nanotubes by Hydrochloric Acid Assisted Gel Chromatography

Abstract

Mass production of high-purity semiconducting single-wall carbon nanotubes (s-SWCNTs) is critical for their application in the electronic and optoelectronic devices. Here we reported a method for high-efficiency separation of high-purity s-SWCNTs with acid-assisted gel chromatography, in which hydrochloric acid (HCl) was used to selectively oxidize metallic SWCNTs (m-SWCNTs) and enhance the difference in the interaction of metallic and semiconducting nanotubes with gel. Specifically, the concentration of HCl in the eluent was gradually increased to elute the carbon nanotubes adsorbed in the gel column step by step. The m-SWCNTs were first eluted at a low HCl concentration, and high-purity s-SWCNTs were selectively eluted at a higher HCl concentration. The final residues containing a relatively high content of m-SWCNTs and amorphous carbon impurities were left in the gel columns. Optical and electrical characterizations confirmed that the purity of the s-SWCNTs extracted from various raw SWCNT materials, especially CoMoCAT (7, 6), was improved greatly. Moreover, multiple single-chirality SWCNTs were first separated from the purified semiconducting CoMoCAT (7, 6) nanotubes. Our present work provides a simple and controllable way for the mass separation of high-purity s-SWCNTs and single-chirality species, which would accelerate their application in the field of electronics, optoelectronics, and bioimaging.