Single-wall carbon nanotube alewives, process for making, and compositions thereof
View Patent ↗The present invention involves alewives of highly aligned single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNT), process for making the same and compositions thereof. The present invention provides a method for effectively making carbon alewives, which are discrete, acicular-shaped aggregates of aligned single-wall carbon nanotubes and resemble the Atlantic fish of the same name. Single-wall carbon nanotube alewives can be conveniently dispersed in materials such as polymers, ceramics, metals, metal oxides and liquids. The process for preparing the alewives comprises mixing single-wall carbon nanotubes with 100% sulfuric acid or a superacid, heating and stirring, and slowly introducing water into the single-wall carbon nanotube/acid mixture to form the alewives. The alewives can be recovered, washed and dried. The properties of the single-wall carbon nanotubes are retained in the alewives.
1. A method for making alewives, comprising:
(a) mixing single-wall carbon nanotubes with an anhydrous acid selected from the group consisting of 100% sulfuric acid and a superacid to form a single-wall carbon nanotube/acid mixture, and
(b) incorporating water into the single-wall carbon nanotube/acid mixture to form alewives comprising aligned single-wall carbon nanotubes.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the superacid is selected from the group consisting of a Brønsted superacid, a Lewis superacid, a Brønsted-Lewis conjugate superacid and mixtures thereof.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the Brønsted superacid is selected from the group consisting of superacids include perchloric acid, chiorosulfuric acid, fluorosulfuric acid, chlorosulfonic acid, fluorosulfonic acid, perfluoroalkanesulfonic acid, trifluoromethanesulfonic acid, higher perfluoroalkanesulfonic acid, C 2 F 5 SO 3 H, C 4 F 9 SO 3 H, C 5 F 11 SO 3 H, C 6 F 13 SO 3 H, C 8 F 17 SO 3 H,
and α, ω-perfluoroalkanedisulfonic acid.
4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the Lewis superacid is selected from the group consisting of antimony pentafluoride, arsenic pentafluoride, tantalum pentafluoride and niobium pentafluoride.
5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the Brønsted-Lewis conjugate superacid is selected from the group consisting of oleum, polyphosphoric acid-oleum mixtures, tetra(hydrogen sulfato)boric acid-sulfuric acid, fluorosulfuric acid-antimony pentafluoride, fluorosulfuric acid-sulfur trioxide, fluorosulfuric acid-arsenic pentafluoride, HSO 3 F:HF:SbF 5 , HSO 3 F:SbF 5 :SO 3 , a perfluoroalkanesulfonic acid-based system, C n F 2n+1 SO 3 H:SbF 5 , where n=1, 2 or 4, CF 3 SO 3 H:B(SO 3 CF 3 ) 3 , hydrogen-fluoride-antimony pentafluoride, hydrogen fluoride-tantalum pentafluoride, hydrogen fluoride-boron trifluoride, a conjugate Friedel-Crafts acid, HBr:AlBr 3 , and HCl:AlCl 3 .
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the superacid is oleum.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the oleum contains at most about 30% SO 3 .
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the superacid is trifluoromethanesulfonic acid.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the single-wall carbon nanotubes are at a concentration range of about 0.01 wt % and about 10 wt % in the acid.
10. The method of claim 1 further comprising purifying the single-wall carbon nanotubes.
11. The method of claim 1 further comprising grinding the single-wall carbon nanotubes.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the grinding is done by a method selected from the group consisting of grinding with a mortar and pestle, ball milling and a combination thereof.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mixing step is done under an inert atmosphere.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mixing step is done at a temperature range between about room temperature and about 150° C.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mixing step is done at a temperature range between about 90° C. and about 130° C.
16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the incorporating step is done at a temperature range between about room and about 150° C.
17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the incorporating step is done at a temperature range between about 90° C. and about 130° C.
18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the incorporating step is done at a temperature range between about 90° C. and about 100° C.
19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mixing step is done in a time range between about 3 hours and about 3 days.
20. The method of claim 1 further comprising recovering the alewives.
21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the recovering step comprises putting the alewives in ether and filtering the alewives from the ether.
22. The method of claim 1 further comprising washing the alewives.
23. The method of claim 22 , wherein the washing is done with water, methanol or a combination thereof.
24. The method of claim 1 further comprising drying the alewives.
25. The method of claim 1 , wherein the alewives are acicular in shape.
26. The method of claim 1 , wherein the alewives have a center thickness in the range of about 0.5 and about 10 microns.
27. The method of claim 1 , wherein the alewives have a center thickness in the range of about 2 and about 5 microns.
28. The method of claim 1 , wherein the alewives have a length of up to about 50 microns.
29. The method of claim 1 , wherein the alewives have a length in the range of about 10 to about 30 microns.
30. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least two alewives are connected to each other at their ends.
31. The method of claim 1 , wherein the alewives are curved.
32. The method of claim 1 , wherein the anhydrous acid is an aggregate substantially non-redispersing acid.
33. The method of claim 1 , wherein the anhydrous acid is an aggregate redispersing acid.
34. The method of claim 1 , wherein the anhydrous acid is an aggregate non-redispersing acid.
35. The method of claim 1 , where the anhydrous acid is 100% sulfuric acid.