Methods of the Controlled Growth and Post Separation for Chirality-Specific Carbon Nanotubes

Abstract:

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) as a promising candidate in a wide range of applications have shown great potentials in optical, electronic, magnetic and mechanical fields. Precisely due to their excellent characteristics and performances, it has attracted widespread attention, and much progress has been made during recent decades. However, due to the huge challenge in controlled synthesis and purification, obtaining SWCNTs with consistent chirality has seriously limited their high-end industrial applications. In this article, we will review the approaches recently developed in chirality-controlled preparation of SWCNTs. Among them, we will introduce the mechanism of templated growth of SWCNTs from chiral affinities, including cloning and seeds designing strategies. The preparation of SWCNTs catalyzed by noble metal and assisted with weak oxidant have been illustrated as well. Meanwhile, we will also discuss some chirality-selective separation approaches, which pay more attention to post-processing strategies by purifying the chiral SWCNTs with functional reagents. We expect that these strategies in controlling the chirality of CNTs will shed more light on the mechanism and process for atomic structural control of CNTs, and may also be applicable in the controlled synthesis of other nanomaterials.

• Periodical: Key Engineering Materials (Volume 896)
• Pages: 99-109
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.896.99
• Online since: August 2021
• Authors: Yi Xin Yan*
• Keywords: Chirality, Controlled Growth, Separation, Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube

References

[1] Iijima, S. & Ichihashi, T. Single-shell Carbon Nanotubes Of 1-nm Diameter. Nature 363 (1993).

DOI: 10.1038/363603a0

[2] Qian, L., Xie, Y., Zhang, S. & Zhang, J. Band Engineering of Carbon Nanotubes for Device Applications. Matter 3, 664-695 (2020).

DOI: 10.1016/j.matt.2020.06.014

[3] Iijima, S. HELICAL MICROTUBULES OF GRAPHITIC CARBON. Nature 354, 56-58 (1991).

DOI: 10.1038/354056a0

[4] Asenjo, J. A. & Andrews, B. A. Aqueous two-phase systems for protein separation: A perspective. J. Chromatogr. A 1218, 8826-8835 (2011).

DOI: 10.1016/j.chroma.2011.06.051

[5] Liu, J. et al. Chirality-controlled synthesis of single-wall carbon nanotubes using vapour-phase epitaxy. Nat. Commun. 3 (2012).

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2205

[6] Liu, B. et al. Chirality-Dependent Vapor-Phase Epitaxial Growth and Termination of Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes. Nano Lett. 13 (2013).

DOI: 10.1021/nl402259k

[7] Li, H.-B., Page, A. J., Irle, S. & Morokuma, K. Single-walled Carbon Nanotube Growth from Chiral Carbon Nanorings: Prediction of Chirality and Diameter Influence on Growth Rates. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 134 (2012).

DOI: 10.1021/ja305769v

[8] Fort, E. H., Donovan, P. M. & Scott, L. T. Diels-Alder Reactivity of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Bay Regions: Implications for Metal-Free Growth of Single-Chirality Carbon Nanotubes. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 131, 16006-+ (2009).

DOI: 10.1021/ja907802g

[9] Sanchez-Valencia, J. R. et al. Controlled synthesis of single-chirality carbon nanotubes. Nature 512, 61-+ (2014).

[10] Tomada, J., Dienel, T., Hampel, F., Fasel, R. & Amsharov, K. Combinatorial design of molecular seeds for chirality-controlled synthesis of single-walled carbon nanotubes. Nat. Commun. 10 (2019).

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11192-y

[11] Yang, F. et al. Chirality-specific growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes on solid alloy catalysts. Nature 510, 522-+ (2014).

[12] Zhang, S. et al. Arrays of horizontal carbon nanotubes of controlled chirality grown using designed catalysts. Nature 543, 234-+ (2017).

DOI: 10.1038/nature21051

[13] He, M. et al. Chirality-selective Growth of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes on Lattice-Mismatched Epitaxial Cobalt Nanoparticles. Sci. Rep. 3 (2013).

[14] Yang, F. et al. Water-Assisted Preparation of High-Purity Semiconducting (14,4) Carbon Nanotubes. Acs Nano 11, 186-193 (2017).

[15] Yuan, Y. et al. Sulfur-induced chirality changes in single-walled carbon nanotube synthesis by ethanol chemical vapor deposition on a Co/SiO2 catalyst. J. Mater. Chem. A 3 (2015).

DOI: 10.1039/c4ta05917d

[16] Wang, J. et al. Growing highly pure semiconducting carbon nanotubes by electrotwisting the helicity. Nat. Catal. 1, 326-331 (2018).

[17] Wang, J. et al. Observation of Charge Generation and Transfer during CVD Growth of Carbon Nanotubes. Nano Lett. 16, 4102-4109 (2016).

DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.6b00841

[18] Nasibulin, A. G. et al. Charging of aerosol products during ferrocene vapor decomposition in N-2 and CO atmospheres. J. Phys. Chem. C 112 (2008).

[19] Gonzalez, D. et al. Single-walled carbon nanotube charging during bundling process in the gas phase. Phys. Status Solidi B. 243, 3234-3237 (2006).

DOI: 10.1002/pssb.200669210

[20] Gonzalez, D. et al. Spontaneous charging of single-walled carbon nanotubes in the gas phase. Carbon 44, 2099-2101 (2006).

DOI: 10.1016/j.carbon.2006.04.021

[21] Gonzalez, D. et al. Spontaneous charging of single-walled carbon nanotubes: A novel strategy for the selective substrate deposition of individual tubes at ambient temperature. Chem. Mater. 18, 5052-5057 (2006).

DOI: 10.1021/cm061402u.s001

[22] Zheng, M. et al. DNA-assisted dispersion and separation of carbon nanotubes. Nat. Mater. 2, 338-342 (2003).

[23] Islam, M. F., Rojas, E., Bergey, D. M., Johnson, A. T. & Yodh, A. G. High weight fraction surfactant solubilization of single-wall carbon nanotubes in water. Nano Lett. 3, 269-273 (2003).

DOI: 10.1021/nl025924u

[24] Wenseleers, W. et al. Efficient isolation and solubilization of pristine single-walled nanotubes in bile salt micelles. Adv. Funct. Mater. 14, 1105-1112 (2004).

DOI: 10.1002/adfm.200400130

[25] Arnold, M. S., Green, A. A., Hulvat, J. F., Stupp, S. I. & Hersam, M. C. Sorting carbon nanotubes by electronic structure using density differentiation. Nat. Nanotechnol. 1, 60-65 (2006).

DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2006.52

[26] Yomogida, Y. et al. Industrial-scale separation of high-purity single-chirality single-wall carbon nanotubes for biological imaging. Nat. Commun. 7 (2016).

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12056

[27] Liu, H., Nishide, D., Tanaka, T. & Kataura, H. Large-scale single-chirality separation of single-wall carbon nanotubes by simple gel chromatography. Nat. Commun. 2 (2011).

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1313

[28] Karandish, M., Fardindoost, S. & Pazuki, G. A Novel Approach in Sorting Chirality Species of Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes Based on an Aqueous Two-Phase System of Polymer-Salt. Sci. Rep. 10 (2020).

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-58993-6

[29] Wei, L., Flavel, B. S., Li, W., Krupke, R. & Chen, Y. Exploring the upper limit of single-walled carbon nanotube purity by multiple-cycle aqueous two-phase separation. Nanoscale 9, 11640-11646 (2017).

DOI: 10.1039/c7nr03302h

[30] An, L., Fu, Q. A., Lu, C. G. & Liu, J. A simple chemical route to selectively eliminate metallic carbon nanotubes in nanotube network devices. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 126, 10520-10521 (2004).

DOI: 10.1021/ja046482m

[31] Strano, M. S. et al. Electronic structure control of single-walled carbon nanotube functionalization. Science 301, 1519-1522 (2003).

[32] O'Connell, M. J., Eibergen, E. E. & Doorn, S. K. Chiral selectivity in the charge-transfer bleaching of single-walled carbon-nanotube spectra. Nat. Mater. 4, 412-418 (2005).

DOI: 10.1038/nmat1367

[33] Liu, B. et al. Chirality-Dependent Reactivity of Individual Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes. Small 9, 1379-1386 (2013).

[34] Zhang, G. et al. Selective etching of metallic carbon nanotubes by gas-phase reaction. Science 314, 974-977 (2006).