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Achieving Ultrahigh Concentrations of Fluorescent Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotubes Using Small‐Molecule Viscosity Modifiers
Author(s) -
Leeds Jarrett D.,
Fourkas John T.,
Wang YuHuang
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.201201472
Subject(s) - carbon nanotube , pulmonary surfactant , materials science , viscosity , fluorescence , dispersion (optics) , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , aqueous solution , carbon fibers , chemistry , composite material , organic chemistry , optics , physics , composite number , engineering
Surfactant dispersion is a well‐established method for stabilizing individual single‐walled carbon nanotubes in aqueous solutions. However, achieving high concentrations of individually dispersed nanotubes with this technique has proven challenging. Here it is demonstrated that the introduction of viscosity‐enhancing compounds such as sucrose can increase the maximum concentration of surfactant‐dispersed single‐walled carbon nanotubes by more than a factor of 100 while still retaining the optical properties of individual nanotubes. When these solutions are used as inks for methods such as inkjet printing, they retain their fluorescent properties even after the ink has dried.