Encapsulation of Fullerenes: A Versatile Approach for the Confinement and Release of Materials Within Open-Ended Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes

UV-Vis quantification of the iron content in iteratively steam and HCl purified single-walled carbon nanotubes

As-produced carbon nanotubes contain impurities which can dominate the properties of the material and are thus undesired. Herein we present a multi-step purification treatment that combines the use of steam and hydrochloric acid in an iterative manner. This allows the reduction of the iron content down to 0.2 wt. % in samples of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). Remarkably, Raman spectroscopy analysis reveals that this purification strategy does not introduce structural defects into the SWCNTs' backbone. To complete the study, we also report on a simplified approach for the quantitative assessment of iron using UV-Vis spectroscopy. The amount of metal in SWCNTs is assessed by dissolving in HCl the residue obtained after the complete combustion of the sample. This leads to the creation of hexaaquairon(III) chloride which allows the determination of the amount of iron, from the catalyst, by UV-Vis spectroscopy. The main advantage of the proposed strategy is that it does not require the use of additional complexing agents.

The Role of Temperature on the Degree of End-Closing and Filling of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), owing to their high surface area-to-volume ratio and hollow core, can be employed as hosts for adsorbed and/or encapsulated molecules. At high temperatures, the ends of CNTs close spontaneously, which is relevant for several applications, including catalysis, gas storage, and biomedical imaging and therapy. This study highlights the influence of the annealing temperature in the range between 400 and 1100 °C on the structure and morphology of single-walled CNTs. The nitrogen adsorption and density functional theory calculations indicate that the fraction of end-closed CNTs increases with temperature. Raman spectroscopy reveals that the thermal treatment does not alter the tubular structure. Insight is also provided into the efficacy of CNTs filling from the molten phase, depending on the annealing temperature. The CNTs are filled with europium (III) chloride and analyzed by using electron microscopy (scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, confirming the presence of filling and closed ends. The filling yield increases with temperature, as determined by thermogravimetric analysis. The obtained results show that the apparent surface area of CNTs, fraction of closed ends, and amount of encapsulated payload can be tailored via annealing.