Binding tendency with oligonucleotides and cell toxicity of cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide-coated single-walled carbon nanotubes

Functionalized carbon nanotubes （CNTs） were made for the delivery of genes and drugs and CNT-based biosensors. The basis of CNTs is for binding with biomolecules in biomedical applications. The binding tendency with small interfering RNA oligonucleotides and cytotoxicity of cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide （CTAB）-coated single-walled carbon nanotubes （SWNTs） were studied. The field emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy results show that a SWNT suspension in CTAB solution was well-dispersed and stable. CTAB is the cross-linker between SWNTs and oligonucleotides. The CTAB-coated SWNTs have less cytotoxicity to human umbilical vein endothelial cells than single SWNTs and the cytotoxicity of CTAB-coated SWNTs depended on the concentration of CTAB-coated SWNTs.

Affinity and fluorescent detection of surfactants/ssDNA and single-walled carbon nanotube

A new biosensor platform was explored for detection of surfactant based on fluorescence changes from single strand DNA （ssDNA） and single-walled carbon nanotubes （SWNTs）. Thermodynamics assay was performed to value the stability of probe. The affinities of SWNT to five common surfactants （SDS, DBS, Triton X-100, Tween-20 and Tween-80） were investigated by real-time fluorescence method. The effects of Mg^2＋ and pH on the fluorescence intensity of self-assembled quenched sensor were performed. The fluorescent emission spectra were used to measure the responses of self-assembled quenched fluorescent of ssDNA/SWNTs to different concentration surfactant（Triton X-100）. The FAM-DNA wrapped SWNTs probe was stable in a wide temperature range （5 ℃ to 80℃）. The binding strength of surfactants and single-stranded DNA （ssDNA） on SWNTs surfaces was shown as follows： Triton X-100〉DBS〉Tween-20〉Tween-80〉ssDNA〉SDS, and the optimized reaction conditions included pH 7.4 and 10 mmol/L Mg2＋. The fluorescence of FAM-ssDNA wrapped SWNTs was proportionally recovered as a result of adding different concentrations of Triton X- 100, which realizes the quantitative detection of Triton X- 100.

Enhanced hydrogen evolution reaction over molybdenum carbide nanoparticles confined inside single-walled carbon nanotubes

Carbon nanotubes(CNTs) have shown as unique nanoreactors to tune the catalytic activity of confined nano-catalysts. Here we report that the catalytic performance of molybdenum carbide nanoparticles(MoC_x NPs) for the hydrogen evolution reaction(HER) process can be enhanced by encapsulation within single-walled carbon nanotubes(SWNTs) with a diameter of 1–2 nm. The catalyst with MoC_x NPs located on the interior surface of SWNTs(MoCx@SWNTs) exhibits a lower onset over-potential and a smaller Tafel slope than the one with MoC_x NPs attached on the exterior surface(MoCx/SWNTs). This is likely attributed to the much smaller particle size and the more reduced states of the confined MoC_x NPs, as well as the larger specific surface area of MoCx@SWNTs compared with Mo Cx/SWNTs. In addition, the electronic structure of the confined MoC_x NPs might be modified by the confinement effects of SWNTs, and hence the adsorption free energy of H atoms on the confined MoC_x NPs, which could also contribute to their higher performance. These results suggest that the SWNTs can be further explored for constructing novel catalysts with beneficial catalytic performance.

Printable Aligned Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Film with Outstanding Thermal Conductivity and Electromagnetic Interference Shielding Performance

Ultrathin,lightweight,and flexible aligned single-walled carbon nanotube(SWCNT)films are fabricated by a facile,environmentally friendly,and scalable printing methodology.The aligned pattern and outstanding intrinsic properties render“metal-like”thermal conductivity of the SWCNT films,as well as excellent mechanical strength,flexibility,and hydrophobicity.Further,the aligned cellular microstructure promotes the electromagnetic interference(EMI)shielding ability of the SWCNTs,leading to excellent shielding effectiveness(SE)of~39 to 90 dB despite a density of only~0.6 g cm^(−3) at thicknesses of merely 1.5-24μm,respectively.An ultrahigh thickness-specific SE of 25693 dB mm^(−1) and an unprecedented normalized specific SE of 428222 dB cm^(2)g^(−1) are accomplished by the freestanding SWCNT films,significantly surpassing previously reported shielding materials.In addition to an EMI SE greater than 54 dB in an ultra-broadband frequency range of around 400 GHz,the films demonstrate excellent EMI shielding stability and reliability when subjected to mechanical deformation,chemical(acid/alkali/organic solvent)corrosion,and high-/low-temperature environments.The novel printed SWCNT films offer significant potential for practical applications in the aerospace,defense,precision components,and smart wearable electronics industries.

Semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes synthesized by S-doping

An approach was presented for synthesis of semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes(SWNTs) by sulfur(S) doping with the method of graphite arc discharge. Raman spectroscopy, UV-vis-NIR absorption spectroscopy and electronic properties measurements indicated the semconducting properties of the SWNTs samples. Simulant calculation indicated that S doping could induce convertion of metallic SWNTs into semiconducting ones. This strategy may pave a way for the direct synthesis of pure semiconducting SWNTs.

Effect of Single-walled Carbon Nanotubes on Cellulose Phenylcarbamate Chiral Stationary Phases

Single-walled carbon nanotubes（SWNTs） have a high adsorption ability and nanoscale interactions. Cellulose trisphenylcarbamates possess high enantioseparation ability in high-performance liquid chromatography（HPLC）. Single-walled carbon nanotubes mixed with cellulose trisphenylcarbamate are coated on the silica gel as chiral stationary phases and higher enantioseparation factors are obtained. After a single-walled carbon nanotube is linked to the 6-pesition of cellulose 2,3-bisphenylcarbamate, its enantioseparation resolution increases compared to that of the cellulose trisphenylcarbamate. It is the first time that SWNTs have been applied to enantioseparation. The results indicate that the single-walled carbon nanotubes are good promoters of chiral recognition. This method can be used to improve the enantioseparation efficiency of the polysaccharide chiral stationary phases.

ANALYSIS OF MATERIAL MECHANICAL PROPERTIES FOR SINGLE-WALLED CARBON NANOTUBES

Abstract The carbon-carbon bond between two nearest-neighboring atoms is mod- eled as a beam and the single-walled carbon nanotubes are treated as the space frame structures in order to analyze the mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes. Based on the theory of Tersof- Brenner force feld, the energy relationships between the carbon-carbon bond and the beam model are obtained, and the stifness parameters of the beam are determined. By applying the present model, the Young’s moduli of the single-walled carbon nanotubes with diferent tube diameters are determined. And the present results are compared with available data.

Production of single-walled carbon nanotubes from methane over Co-Mo/MgO nanocatalyst:A comparative study of fixed and fluidized bed reactors

In this study,the performances of fixed and fluidized bed reactors in the production of single-walled carbon nanotubes（SWNTs）have been investigated.In both reactors,single-walled carbon nanotubes were grown by catalytic chemical vapor decomposition（CCVD）of methane over Co-Mo/MgO nanocatalyst under two different operating conditions.The synthesized samples were characterized by TEM,TGA and Raman spectroscopy.It is found that the performance of a fluidized bed in the synthesis of carbon nanotubes is much better than that of a fixed bed.The quality of carbon nanotubes obtained from the fluidized bed was significantly higher than that from the fixed bed and the former one with the ID/IG ratio of 0.11 while the latter one with the ID/IG ratio of 0.71.Also,the yield of SWNTs in the fluidized bed was 92 wt%,while it was 78 wt%in the fixed bed.These advantages of fluidized bed reactors for the synthesis of carbon nanotubes can be attributed to more available space for the growth of carbon nanotubes and more uniform temperature and concentration profiles.

Molecular Simulation of Hydrogen Adsorption Density in Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes and Multilayer Adsorption Mechanism

The adsorption of hydrogen onto single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) was studied by molecular dynamics (MD) sim'lation. It was found that the hydrogen molecules distribute regularly inside and outside of the tube. Density distribution was computed for H2 molecule. Theoretical analysis of the result showed the multilayer adsorption mechanism of SWCNTs. The storage of H2 in SWCNTs is computed, which provides essential theoretical reference for further study of hydrogen adsorption in SWCNTs.

Dielectrophoretic assembly of semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotube transistor

A novel burning technique for making a semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes （SWNTs） transistor assembled by the dielectrophoretic force was suggested. The fabrication process consisted of two steps. First, to align and attach a bundle of SWNTs between the source and drain, the alternating （AC） voltage was applied to the electrodes. When a bundle of SWNTs was connected between two electrodes, some of metallic nanotubes and semi-conducing nanotubes existed together. The second step is to burn the metallic SWNTS by applying the voltage between two electrodes. With increasing the voltage, more current flowed through the metallic SWNTs, thus, the metallic SWNTs burnt earlier than the semiconducting one. This technique enables to obtain only semi-conducting SWNTs connection in the transistor. Through the 1--V characteristic graph, the moment of metallic SWNTs burning and the characteristic of semi-conducing nanotubes were verified.

Effects of single-walled carbon nanotubes on growth and physiological characteristics of Microcystis aeruginosa

In order to explore a novel and potential method using carbon nanotubes （CNTs） for controlling blue-green algal blooms efficiently in future, effects of single-walled carbon nanotubes （SWCNTs） on Microcystis aeruginosa growth control were investigated under lab cultured conditions. Related physiological changes were tested involving several important enzyme of antioxidant defense system （superoxide dismutase （SOD）, peroxidase （POD）, catalase （CAT）, malondiadehyde （MDA）, photosynthetic pigments, protein, soluble sugar and extracellular microcystin toxins （MC-LR））. Algal cell density was significantly inhibited by SWCNTs at high concentration （〉5.00 mg/L）, and the inhibition rate was dose-dependent. For treatment with 100 mg/L SWCNTs, the inhibitory rates even reached above 90%. 96 h IC50 was determined as 22 mg/L. Antioxidant enzyme activities were dramatically dropped with increasing lipid peroxidation at higher SWCNTs concentration, indicating intracellular generation of reactive oxygen species （ROS） and oxidative stress damage in algae. Reduction of photosynthetic pigments, soluble sugar and protein contents suggested that SWCNTs may severely ruin algal photosynthesis system, destroy the metabolism-related structure of cell, and thus lead to negative physiological status in M. aeruginosa. Besides, SWCNTs can effectively decrease the amount of extracellular microcystins in culture medium.

Synthesis of nitrogen-doped single-walled carbon nanotubes and monitoring of doping by Raman spectroscopy

Nitrogen-doped single-walled carbon nanotubes （CNx-SWNTs） with tunable dopant concentrations were synthesized by chemical vapor deposition （CVD）, and their structure and elemental composition were characterized by using transmission electron microscopy （TEM） in combination with electron energy loss spectroscopy （EELS）. By comparing the Raman spectra of pristine and doped nanotubes, we observed the doping-induced Raman G band phonon stiffening and 2D band phonon softening, both of which reflect doping-induced renormalization of the electron and phonon energies in the nan- otubes and behave as expected in accord with the n-type doping effect. On the basis of first principles calculations of the distribution of delocalized carrier density in both the pristine and doped nanotubes, we show how the n-type doping occurs when nitrogen heteroatoms are substitutionally incorporated into the honeycomb tube-shell carbon lattice.

High-speed countercurrent chromatography for purification of single-walled carbon nanotubes

A new chromatographic purification of single-walled carbon nanotubes using high-speed countercurrent chromatography is reported. The purification was accomplished on the basis of experiment that dispersed the single-walled carbon nanotubes with sodium dodecyl sulfate, and the result mixture was separated using the two phase system composed of n-butanol/water = 1/1 （v/v）. The sizes of SWNTs separated were observed by scanning electron microscopy. The results demonstrated that the high-speed countercurrent chromatography possessed a good efficency for purification of single-walled carbon nanotubes.

Synthesis and evaluation of carbon nanotubes composite adsorbent for CO2 capture： a comparative study of CO2 adsorption capacity of single-walled and multi-walled carbon nanotubes

As a preliminary investigation towards obtaining carbon nanotube composite adsorbent for CO2 capture, in this study CO2 adsorption performance of three commercial carbon nanotubes （CNTs） one single-walled carbon nanotubes （SWCNTs）, and two （2） different multi-walled carbon nanotubes （referred to as A-MWCNTs and B-MWCNTs） were evaluated and compared. The purpose of this study was to compare the different types of CNTs and select the best to serve as the solid anchor in the development of a hydrophobic composite adsorbent material for CO2 capture. The N2 physi- sorption of the CNTs was conducted to determine their surface area, pore volume and pore size. In addition, morphology and purity of the CNTs were checked with Transmission Electron Microscopy and Raman Spectroscopy, respectively. The CO2 adsorption capacity of the CNTs was evaluated using Thermo-gravimetric analysis （TGA） at 1.1 bar, at operating temperature ranged from 25 to 55 ~C and at different CO2 feed flow rates, in order to evaluate the effects of these variables on the CO2 adsorption capacity. The results of CO2 adsorption with the TGA show that CO2 adsorption capacity for both SWCNTs and MWCNTs was the highest at 25 ~C. Changing the CO2 flowrates had no significant effect on the adsorption capacity of MWCNTs, but decreasing the CO2 flow rate resulted in the enhancement of the CO2 adsorption capacity of SWCNTs. Overall, it was found that the SWCNTs displayed the highest CO2 adsorption capacity （29.97 gCO2/kg ad- sorbent） when compared to the MWCNTs （12.09 gCO2/kg adsorbent）, indicating a 150% increase in adsorption capacity over MWCNTs.

Electron field emission from single-walled carbon nanotube nonwoven

Field emission from single-walled carbon nanotube （SWNT） nonwoven has been investigated under high vacuum with different vacuum gaps, A low turn-on electric field of 1.05 V/μm is required to reach an emission current density of 10μA/cm^2. An emission current density of 10 mA/cm^2 is obtained at an operating electric field of 1.88V/μm. No current saturation is found even at an emission current of 5 mA. With the vacuum gap increasing from 1 to 10 mm, the turn-on field decreases monotonically from 1.21 to 0.68 V/μm, while the field amplification is augmented. The good field-emission behaviour is ascribed to the combined effects of the intrinsic field emission of SWNT and the waved topography of the nonwoven.

Density Functional Theory Study of MoO_3 Molecule Encapsulated inside Single-walled Carbon Nanotubes

The binding energies, geometric structures and electronic properties of molybde- num trioxide （MOO3） molecule encapsulated inside （8, 0）, （9, 0）, （10, 0） and （14, 0） single-walled carbon nanotubes （SWNTs） have been investigated using density functional theory （DFT） method. Due to curvature effect, the calculated binding energy values are different, the variation of which indicated that the stability of MoO3/SWNT systems increases with increasing the radius of SWNTs. At the same time, owing to the presence of MoO3 molecule, the band gap of MoO3/SWNTs systems decreases. The analysis of density of states （DOS） reveals hybridization between C-2p and Mo-4d and between C-2p and O-2p orbitals near the Fermi level, which results in electron transfer from SWNTs to MoO3 molecule. The present computations suggest that electronic properties of SWNTs can be modified by doping MoO3 molecule.

Development of a microcomposite with single-walled carbon nanotubes and Nd_2O_3 for determination of paracetamol in pharmaceutical dosage by adsorptive voltammetry

This study presents for the first time a new composite of carbon paste(CP), single-walled carbon nanotubes(SWCNTs) and Nd2 O3(NdOX). This versatile composite(NdOX-SWCNT/CPE) was applied to the oxidation of paracetamol(PCM). The newly formed surface was characterized by scanning electron microscopy(SEM), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy(EIS) and cyclic voltammetry(CV). The results showed greater conductivity and a higher surface area for the composite than those of the carbon paste alone. Moreover, the anodic peak currents for PCM increased from 1.6 to 3.6 m A with CPE and NdOXSWCNT/CPE, indicating an increase of nearly 51.0% for the anodic peak current. On the other hand, the anodic peak potentials shifted from 0.67 to 0.57 V. The detection limits were 0.05 mmol/L with NdOXSWCNT/CPE and 0.50 mmol/L with SWCNT/CPE. The relative standard deviations(RSDs) were 1.5%(n=7). The accuracy and interference of the methods were evaluated with a urine chemistry control spiked with known quantities of PCM, uric acid, dopamine, ascorbic acid, caffeine, acetylsalicylic acid,tartrazine, sunset yellow, allure red, rutin, morin and metal ions. Finally, the novelty and usefulness of the composite were evaluated to quantify PCM in pharmaceutical dosage forms such as tablets, powders and syrups for children.

Broad Microwave Dielectric Property of Single-walled Carbon Nanotube Composites

Microwave dielectric measurements over the broad bandwith of 10 MHz to 20 GHz were conducted on composites comprising bundles of single-walled carbon nanotubes （SWNT） embedded in an epoxy matrix, in comparison to the nano-graphite and MWNT. It is found that both relative real and imaginary permittivity of the nanocomposites are strong functions of the SWNT concentration, showing large, wide dielectric and electrical response. Distinct resonance around 1.5 GHz is observed at high SWNT concentrations, accompa- nied by the downshift of the resonance frequency with increasing concentration. Largely, the SWNT-epoxy composites share the behavior of the MWNT owing to structural similarity, much more effective than the nano-graphite. The remarkable, broadband dielectric and electrical properties of the nanotubes acquired in the work originate from their unique seamless graphene architectures, modeled by two major contributions, dielectric relaxation/resonance and electronic conduction, which is substantiated by the agreement between theoretical analysis and experimental results. The carbon nanotube composites are prospective for microwave applications and offer experimental evidence for fundamental studies in low-dimensional systems.

Direct transition of potential of water droplets to electric energy using aligned single-walled carbon nanotubes

In this paper, we report that an electromotive force （EMF） can be induced in a rope of aligned single-walled carbon nanotubes （SWNTs） when water droplets fall on this rope. The magnitude of this EMF depends sensitively on the slant angle of the SWNTs. Most interestingly, both the magnitude and the direction of the induced EFM can be modulated by applying a current to the SWNTs. The concepts of electrical slip and no-slip are proposed and can be quantitatively described by ＂electrical slip resistance＂. This kind of generator does not need any magnet, rotor, etc and shows quite a different operating mechanism and design compared with a conventional large scale hydroelectric power generator.

Thermal properties of single-walled carbon nanotube crystal

In this work, the thermal properties of a single-walled carbon nanotube （SWCNT） crystal are studied. The thermal conductivity of the SWCNT crystal is found to have a linear dependence on temperature in the temperature range from 1.9 K to 100.0 K. In addition, a peak （658 W/mK） is found at a temperature of about 100.0 K. The thermal conductivity decreases gradually to a value of 480 W/mK and keeps almost a constant in the temperature range from 100.0 K to 300.0 K. Meanwhile, the specific heat shows an obvious linear relationship with temperature in the temperature range from 1.9 K to 300.0 K. We discuss the possible mechanisms for these unique thermal properties of the single-walled carbon nanotube crystal.