[18p-PB3-1~95] 17 Nanocarbon Technology (Poster)

[18p-PB3-32] Selective Extraction of Semiconducting Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes with a Thermoresponsive Polymer

Eriko Shimura¹, Toshiki Sugai¹, 〇Shota Kuwahara¹ (1.Toho Univ.)

Keywords:carbon nanotubes, thermoresponsive polymer, extraction

The globules of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM), a thermoresponsive polymer, that form above the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) separate the inner hydrophobic space from the aqueous solution, which enables nanomaterials to be separated according to their hydrophilicity, including their intrinsic electronic structure. Here, we performed the extraction of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) by exploiting the phase transition of PNIPAM to obtain homogenous electronic properties. The semiconducting SWCNTs were selectively extracted into the aqueous phase of a PNIPAM solution above the LCST, while the metallic SWCNTs and a portion of the semiconducting SWCNTs were captured in the globules of PNIPAM.