Isothermal microcalorimetry, a tool for probing SWNT bundles.

The bundling state of several dry single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) samples is compared using isothermal microcalorimetry (IMC). So as to get different dry samples with various bundling states, the pristine SWNTs were pretreated with a solution of an aromatic amphiphile with or without sonication, washed and dried before being studied by IMC. The bundling state of the different SWNT samples, which was first analyzed by TEM, was then correlated to the obtained IMC data thanks to the interpretation of the observed energy transfer phenomena. From our results, IMC appears to be an interesting technique for the surface probing of dry SWNT samples, and herein for the evaluation of the bundling state.