Tuning wettability and electrical conductivity of single-walled carbon nanotubes by the modified Hummers method

Grzegorz Stando; Sujie Han; Bogumiła Kumanek; Dariusz Łukowiec; Dawid Janas

doi:10.1038/s41598-022-08343-5

Tuning wettability and electrical conductivity of single-walled carbon nanotubes by the modified Hummers method

Sci Rep. 2022 Mar 14;12(1):4358. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-08343-5.

Authors

Grzegorz Stando^{1

2}, Sujie Han³, Bogumiła Kumanek^{4

5}, Dariusz Łukowiec⁶, Dawid Janas⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Organic Chemistry, Bioorganic Chemistry and Biotechnology, Faculty of Chemistry, Silesian University of Technology, B. Krzywoustego 4, 44-100, Gliwice, Poland. Grzegorz.Stando@polsl.pl.
² Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. Grzegorz.Stando@polsl.pl.
³ School of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, Ningbo University, 818 Fenghua Road, Ningbo, People's Republic of China.
⁴ Department of Organic Chemistry, Bioorganic Chemistry and Biotechnology, Faculty of Chemistry, Silesian University of Technology, B. Krzywoustego 4, 44-100, Gliwice, Poland.
⁵ Laboratory of Material Engineering and Environment, KOMAG Institute of Mining Technology, 44-101, Gliwice, Poland.
⁶ Institute of Engineering Materials and Biomaterials, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Silesian University of Technology, Konarskiego 18, 44-100, Gliwice, Poland.
⁷ Department of Organic Chemistry, Bioorganic Chemistry and Biotechnology, Faculty of Chemistry, Silesian University of Technology, B. Krzywoustego 4, 44-100, Gliwice, Poland. Dawid.Janas@polsl.pl.

Abstract

Partial oxidation of nanocarbon materials is one of the most straightforward methods to improve their compatibility with other materials, which widens its application potential. This work studied how the microstructure and properties of high crystallinity single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) can be tailored by applying the modified Hummers method. The influence of temperature (0, 18, 40 °C), reaction time (0 min to 7 h), and the amount of KMnO₄ oxidant was monitored. The results showed that depending on the oxidation conditions, the electronic characteristics of the material could be adjusted. After optimizing the parameters, the SWCNTs were much more conductive (1369 ± 84 S/cm with respect to 283 ± 32 S/cm for the untreated material). At the same time, the films made from them exhibited hydrophilic character of the surface (water contact angle changed from 71° to 27°).

Abstract

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