Issue 23, 2011
From the journal:

Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics

Structural modifications of ionic liquidsurfactants for improving the water dispersibility of carbon nanotubes: an experimental and theoretical study†

Antonello Di Crescenzo,a   Massimiliano Aschi,*b   Elisa Del Canto,c   Silvia Giordani,c   Davide Demurtasd  and  Antonella Fontana*a  

* Corresponding authors

a Dipartimento di Scienze del Farmaco, Università “G. d'Annunzio”, Via dei Vestini, I-66100 Chieti, Italy
E-mail: fontana@unich.it
Fax: +39 0871 3554791
Tel: +39 0871 3554790

b Dipartimento di Chimica, Ingegneria Chimica e Materiali, Università degli Studi di L'Aquila, Via Vetoio (Coppito 1), I-67010 L'Aquila, Italy
E-mail: m.aschi@caspur.it
Tel: +39 338 6546526

c School of Chemistry/Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN), Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland

d Interdisciplinary Center for Electron Microscopy (CIME), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland

Abstract

The 1-hexadecyl-3-vinylimidazolium bromide (hvimBr), a water-soluble long-chain imidazolium ionic liquid (IL) with surfactant properties, showed the ability to produce stable homogeneous aqueous dispersions of pristine Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWNTs). The purpose of this study is the improvement of SWNT dispersing ability by assessing the effect of different groups in position 3 of the imidazole ring. In this regard structural analogues were synthesized and, after characterization, their capability to dissolve SWNTs in water was investigated. Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations have been performed to provide a semi-quantitative indication of the affinity of each dispersing agent toward SWNT and to attempt an explanation of the experimental results.

Graphical abstract: Structural modifications of ionic liquid surfactants for improving the water dispersibility of carbon nanotubes: an experimental and theoretical study

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/C1CP20140A
Article type
Paper
Submitted
16 Jan 2011
Accepted
20 Apr 2011
First published
16 May 2011

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2011,13, 11373-11383

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Structural modifications of ionic liquid surfactants for improving the water dispersibility of carbon nanotubes: an experimental and theoretical study

A. D. Crescenzo, M. Aschi, E. D. Canto, S. Giordani, D. Demurtas and A. Fontana, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2011, 13, 11373 DOI: 10.1039/C1CP20140A

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