All single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) manufacturing processes use a carbon feedstock, metal catalysts, and heat to yield a heterogeneous powdered soot that contains a variety of SWCNT chiralities, metals, non-tubular carbon (NTC) species, and in some cases, catalyst support material. The chemical and physical characterization of SWCNT soot is therefore challenging and requires a host of analytical methods to provide a thorough materials characterization.Four of the most common methods used by manufacturers to qualify product quality are: NIR spectroscopy to generate a relative SWCNT purity factor, UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy to determine the abundance of semi-conducting and metallic SWCNTs, Raman spectroscopy to generate a relative SWCNT quality factor,and TGA to estimate the percentages of metallic and carbonaceous components inSWCNT soot. Surprisingly, manufacturers rarely use CHNS/O combustion analyses and ICP-MS to provide elemental analysis information on SWCNT soot certificates of analysis. Since a thorough characterization of CNT soot is imperative for ensuring product quality and for generating accurate environmental toxicity assessments, the goal of this work was to develop a routine laboratory procedure for an extensive elemental analysis of SWCNT soot. To achieve this, we chose a combination of CHNS/O analysis, ICP-MS, GF-AAS, and oxygen flask combustion/anion chromatography (OFC/AC) to analyze 76 elements � essentially 99% percent of all elements on the periodic table that are not radioactive or noble gases. The utility of the method will be demonstrated through comparisons of our results to manufacturer's certificates of analyses, and the importance of the method will be demonstrated by the finding of unexpected metals.

Importance of a thorough elemental analysis of carbon nanotube soot

247th National Meeting (2014)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.