Scientists grow ultrahigh-purity carbon nanotubes

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are being widely studied for their potential applications in many areas; for example, as electrode materials for energy storage, as transparent conductive films, and as nanocomposite materials with novel properties. But all of these applications require that the SWCNTs have a very high purity, since metallic impurities have adverse effects on the nanotubes' properties. So far, preparing SWCNTs with very few metallic impurities has been challenging.

In a new paper published in Advanced Functional Materials, Professors Qiang Zhang and Fei Wei at the Beijing Key Laboratory of Green Chemical Reaction Engineering and Technology at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, along with their coauthors, have demonstrated a method for preparing SWCNTs with a carbon content of 99.5 wt% on powder catalysts, which is one of the highest purities to date.