TY - JOUR
T1 - Unzipping Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes under Vortex Fluidic Continuous Flow
AU - Alharbi, Thaar M.D.
AU - Alotaibi, Amjad E.H.
AU - Chen, Dechao
AU - Li, Qin
AU - Raston, Colin L.
PY - 2022/9/23
Y1 - 2022/9/23
N2 - Conventional batch processing in terms of unzipping multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) suffers from discontinuity, safety and environmental issues, reproducibility, and limited scalability. We have established a continuous-flow, scalable, and safe process for unzipping MWCNTs, achieving a yield of 75% under flow conditions, without the need for any auxiliary reagents. This involves using a mild oxidant, aqueous hydrogen peroxide, and harnessing the mechanical energy in a vortex fluidic device (VFD) while operating at ambient temperature. The physical properties of the fabricated unzipping MWCNTs were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy. This scalable, continuous-flow VFD-enabled fabrication method for unzipping MWCNTs unveils the power of a fluidic vortex confined in a thin film of liquid for nanocarbon structural re-formation and functionalization.
AB - Conventional batch processing in terms of unzipping multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) suffers from discontinuity, safety and environmental issues, reproducibility, and limited scalability. We have established a continuous-flow, scalable, and safe process for unzipping MWCNTs, achieving a yield of 75% under flow conditions, without the need for any auxiliary reagents. This involves using a mild oxidant, aqueous hydrogen peroxide, and harnessing the mechanical energy in a vortex fluidic device (VFD) while operating at ambient temperature. The physical properties of the fabricated unzipping MWCNTs were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy. This scalable, continuous-flow VFD-enabled fabrication method for unzipping MWCNTs unveils the power of a fluidic vortex confined in a thin film of liquid for nanocarbon structural re-formation and functionalization.
KW - carbon nanotubes
KW - continuous flow
KW - scalability
KW - shear stress
KW - unzipping
KW - vortex fluidic device
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85137642320&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/DP200101105
U2 - 10.1021/acsanm.2c02448
DO - 10.1021/acsanm.2c02448
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85137642320
SN - 2574-0970
VL - 5
SP - 12165
EP - 12173
JO - ACS Applied Nano Materials
JF - ACS Applied Nano Materials
IS - 9
ER -