Controlled Oxidative Cutting of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

The oxidation reaction of piranha solutions with purified HiPco carbon nanotubes was measured
as a function of temperature. At high temperatures, piranha is capable of attacking existing damage sites,
generating vacancies in the graphene sidewall, and consuming the oxidized vacancies to yield short, cut
nanotubes. Increased reaction time results in increasingly shorter nanotubes. However, significant sidewall
damage occurs as well as selective etching of the smaller diameter nanotubes. On the other hand, room-temperature piranha treatments show the capability of cutting existing damage sites with minimal carbon
loss, slow etch rates, and little sidewall damage. Combined with a method of introducing controlled amounts
of damage sites, these room-temperature piranha solutions have the potential to yield an efficient means
of creating short, cut nanotubes.

本数据集测量了食人鱼溶液（piranha solution）与纯化的HiPco碳纳米管（HiPco carbon nanotubes）的氧化反应随温度的变化规律。在高温条件下，食人鱼溶液能够侵蚀已存在的损伤位点，在石墨烯侧壁产生空位，并通过消耗氧化空位得到短切碳纳米管。反应时间越长，所得碳纳米管的长度越短。但该过程同时会造成显著的侧壁损伤，并对直径较小的碳纳米管产生选择性刻蚀。与之相对，室温下的食人鱼溶液处理仅能切割已存在的损伤位点，且碳损耗极低、刻蚀速率缓慢，侧壁损伤极少。若结合可控引入适量损伤位点的方法，室温食人鱼溶液有望成为高效制备短切碳纳米管的可行手段。