Effects of chlorinated aromatic solvents on the dispersion of HiPco SWNTS
Document Type Article
Published in Physica Status Solidi (b), Vol. 245, issue 10, pp. 1947-50 (2008) http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121420238/issue
Abstract
A systematic study of the effect of chlorinated aromatic solvents such as monochlorobenzene (MCB), 1,2-dichlorobenzene (o-DCB), 1,3-dichlorobenzene (m-DCB) and 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene (TCB) on the dispersion of HiPco SWNTs has been conducted. UV-Vis-NIR absorption spectroscopy coupled with an integrating sphere is employed to differentiate absorbance and scattering. An investigation of the effect of sonication time on sample preparation shows that sonication has a sig-nificant effect on the dispersion of SWNTs in organic solvents. The effect of centrifugation of the samples is also explored. For each solvent, a concentration depend-ent study demonstrates a clear transition between aggregates and dispersed tubes. A critical examination of the efficacy of the solvents in dispersing and solubilising the nanotubes is presented.