Mechanical and chemical breaking of multiwalled carbon nanotubes

Inter-collisional cutting of multi-walled carbon nanotubes by high-speed agitation

“…As the simplest approach, the entanglement of CNTs can be solved by chemical and mechanical cutting techniques. Thus far, a variety of cutting methods have been reported, including acid [6,7] and thermal [8,9] oxidation, ball milling [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20], ultrasonication [21], and ultrasound-assisted cutting in mixed acids [22,23] and in a polymer-dissolved organic solvent [24]. Dry ball milling [10][11][12] and diamond-grain grinding [25,26], which are analogous in principle, have effectively cut CNTs to solve the nanotube entanglement.…”

Surface Chemistry and Structure of Purified, Ozonized, Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes Probed by NEXAFS and Vibrational Spectroscopies

“…[5][6][7][8][9] In the particular case of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs), surprisingly little fundamental structural understanding of chemical derivatization has been achieved for these systems. Multiwalled nanotubes have been cut and functionalized by mechanical means, [10] subjected to silylation, [11] irradiated by radiofrequency plasma, [12] and successfully intercalated with metal atoms. [13] In addition, MWNTs have been incorporated into composites with alumina, [14] transition metal oxides, [15] polymers, [16] metal nanoparticles, [17] and quantum dots.…”

Quantitative Characterization of Hydrophilic−Hydrophobic Properties of MWNTs Surfaces

“…5 Several methods have been reported to produce functional groups such as -F, -NH 2 , -COCl, -SH, and so forth on both singlewall (SWNT) and multiwall nanotubes. 6,7 Methods for investigating individual nanotubes and nanotube samples as bulk matter involve TEM, Raman spectroscopy, XRD, BET, and thermal analysis (TG-DTA). These techniques are suitable to characterize the shape, geometry, and graphitization (HRTEM) of the individual nanotubes and bundles of SWNTs.…”

“…However, for those applications in which the nanotubes are used to strengthen polymers the presence of functional groups is advantageous to ensure chemical bond between polymer and filler or enhances the solubility of carbon nanotubes in various solvent . Several methods have been reported to produce functional groups such as −F, −NH 2 , −COCl, −SH, and so forth on both singlewall (SWNT) and multiwall nanotubes. , …”