Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) show promise in a number of applications, both structural and electronic. However, these applications require the CNTs to be well-dispersed, and, in many cases, purified by �chirality�. Polymers have been shown to be effective at the de-bundling and suspending of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) within solvent and solid materials by wrapping, and/or pi-stacking. In particular, conjugated polymers typically bind irreversibly to the SWNTs, quenching the polymer fluorescence, and de-bundling the nanotubes. While the solubility of the polymer/SWNT conjugates can be adjusted by changing side-chain structure, the relationships between polymer structure and SWNT binding remain poorly understood. Likewise, studies to investigate nanotube selectivity are in their infancy. In an attempt to further investigate these interactions between polymers and SWNTs, we have synthesized a series of novel conjugated polymers and explored their interactions with carbon nanotubes using near-IR absorbance spectroscopy, fluorescence, and Raman spectroscopy.

Synthesis of a series of novel conjugated polymers for the suspension of single-walled carbon nanotubes

245th National Meeting (2013)

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