Dispersion of single-walled carbon nanotubes modified with poly-l-tyrosine in water

Mio Kojima; Tomoka Chiba; Junichiro Niishima; Toshiaki Higashi; Takahiro Fukuda; Yoshikata Nakajima; Shunji Kurosu; Tatsuro Hanajiri; Koji Ishii; Toru Maekawa; Akira Inoue

doi:10.1186/1556-276X-6-128

Dispersion of single-walled carbon nanotubes modified with poly-l-tyrosine in water

Nanoscale Res Lett. 2011 Feb 10;6(1):128. doi: 10.1186/1556-276X-6-128.

Authors

Mio Kojima¹, Tomoka Chiba, Junichiro Niishima, Toshiaki Higashi, Takahiro Fukuda, Yoshikata Nakajima, Shunji Kurosu, Tatsuro Hanajiri, Koji Ishii, Toru Maekawa, Akira Inoue

Affiliation

¹ Bio-Nano Electronics Research Centre, Toyo University 2100, Kujirai, Kawagoe, Saitama 350-8585, Japan. maekawa@toyo.jp.

Abstract

In this study, complexes composed of poly-l-tyrosine (pLT) and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) were produced and the dispersibility of the pLT/SWCNT complexes in water by measuring the ζ potential of the complexes and the turbidity of the solution were investigated. It is found that the absolute value of the ζ potential of the pLT/SWCNT complexes is as high as that of SWCNTs modified with double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) and that the complexes remain stably dispersed in the water at least for two weeks. Thermogravimetry analysis (TGA) and visualization of the surface structures of pLT/SWCNT complexes using an atomic force microscope (AFM) were also carried out.