Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
Nat Commun. 2013;4:1989. doi: 10.1038/ncomms2989.
Previously, reduced single-walled carbon nanotube anions have been used for effective processing and functionalization. Here we report individually separate and distinct (that is, discrete) single-walled carbon nanotube cations, directly generated from a pure anode using a non-aqueous electrochemical technique. Cyclic voltammetry provides evidence for the reversibility of this nanoion electrochemisty, and can be related to the complex electronic density of states of the single-walled carbon nanotubes. Fixed potentiostatic oxidation allows spontaneous dissolution of nanotube cations ('nanotubium'); Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy show that sequential fractions are purified, separating amorphous carbon and short, defective single-walled carbon nanotubes, initially. The preparation of nanotubium, in principle, enables a new family of nucleophilic grafting reactions for single-walled carbon nanotubes, exploited here, to assemble nanotubes on amine-modified Si surfaces. Other nanoparticle polyelectrolyte cations may be anticipated.
先前，已使用经过还原的单壁碳纳米管阴离子来进行有效的处理和功能化。在这里，我们报告了直接从纯阳极通过非水电化学技术生成的、单独分离且独特（即离散）的单壁碳纳米管阳离子。循环伏安法为这种纳米离子电化学的可逆性提供了证据，并且可以与单壁碳纳米管的复杂电子态密度相关联。固定电势氧化允许纳米管阳离子（“纳米钛”）自发溶解；拉曼光谱和透射电子显微镜显示，连续的级分被纯化，最初分离出无定形碳和短的、有缺陷的单壁碳纳米管。纳米钛的制备原则上为单壁碳纳米管的亲核接枝反应开辟了一个新的家族，在这里，我们利用它将纳米管组装在胺修饰的 Si 表面上。预计还会有其他纳米颗粒聚电解质阳离子。
