I&EC 124 |
| Olga Gorelik1, Pavel Nikolaev1, William Holmes1, Victor Hadjiev2, Rodrigo Devivar3, and Sivaram Arepalli1. (1) G. B. Tech Inc., 2200 Space Park Drive, Houston, TX 77058, Houston, TX TX 77058, (2) Texas Center for Superconductivity, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, Houston, TX TX 77204, (3) Bastion Technologies, 17625 El Camino Real, Houston, Texas, 77058, Houston, TX TX 77058 |
| Current methods for single wall carbon nanotube (SWNT) production include laser ablation, chemical vapor deposition, arc discharge, and HiPco methods. Some of these production methods offer distinct advantages over others, but all achieve the synthesis of material that must be purified prior to capitalizing on the unique properties of SWNTs. The known impurities generated during SWNT production include soluble and insoluble fullerenes, volatile and non-volatile organic compounds, metal clusters and graphitic shells. These impurities may account for as much as 40% of the weight of the SWNT material and impair the solubility, complicate the alignment and diminish the desired mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties. A variety of purification methods are developed and followed at NASA-JSC to be used with nanotube materials from different sources. The present study is to characterize the un-purified material, identify the impurities and use suitable purification process to minimize these specific impurities. Results of this effort will be presented by comparing different procedures used on the same material. Qualitative and quantitative analysis was done using different analytical techniques including SEM, TEM, TGA, UV-VIS and Raman.
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Purification, Separation, and Characterization of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWNT's) (sponsored by Advanced Materials & Nanotechnology Subdivision)
1:30 PM-4:45 PM, Tuesday, March 30, 2004 Marriott -- Orange County 2, Oral
Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry |