Efficiency Comparison of Amide Solvents for Dispersing of Carboxylated Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes

Abstract

A method for obtaining of carboxylated single-walled carbon nanotubes suspensions (SWNT) in a number of amide solvents is described. Using Raman spectroscopy, the “dissolving” and dispersing powers of solvents (N,N-dimethylacetamide, 2-pyrrolidone, and N-methylpyrrolidone) have been studied It was shown that N,N-dimethylacetamide is the best solvent among studied in this work for obtaining stable suspensions of carboxylated single-walled carbon nanotubes. The diameters of individual nanotubes prevailing in the suspension, as well as the degree of dispersion were estimated from the data obtained by deconvolution of characteristic spectral bands (radial “breathing” modes). Our estimation shows the presence of about 92% of individual nanotubes in the suspensions with N,N-dimethylacetamide, which is a remarkable result.