Fish & Richardson P.C.
Method for cutting fullerene nanotubes
This invention relates generally to cutting fullerene nanotubes. In one embodiment, the present invention provides for preparation of homogeneous populations of short fullerene nanotubes by cutting and annealing (reclosing) the nanotube pieces followed by fractionation. The cutting and annealing processes may be carried out on a purified nanotube bucky paper, on felts prior to purification of nanotubes or on any material that contains fullerene nanotubes. In one embodiment, oxidative etching with concentrated nitric acid is employed to cut fullerene nanotubes into shorter lengths. The annealed nanotubes may be disbursed in an aqueous detergent solution or an organic solvent for the fractionation. Closed tubes can also be derivatized to facilitate fractionation, for example, by adding solubilizing moieties to the end caps.
William Marsh Rice University
B H G H Y Y Y G B D Y Y B H G Y H G Y G B C D G B G Y Y Y H B Y C B Y Y H B G Y Y Y B H B H B Y G H B B H G B Y D C Y Y B Y C Y
B01J H01M G11C H01L Y10S Y10S Y10S G11B B01J D01F Y10S Y10S B01J H01M G11B Y10T H01L G11B Y02E G11C B01J C01B D21H G11C B01J G11C Y10S Y10S Y02P H01G B01J Y10S C01B B01J Y02E Y10T H01M B01J G11C Y10S Y10S Y10S B01J H01M B01J H01L B01J Y10S G11B H01M B01J B01J H01M G11C B82B Y10T D01F C01B Y10S Y10S B01J Y10T C01B Y10S
inventional inventional additional inventional additional additional additional additional inventional inventional additional additional inventional additional additional additional inventional additional additional inventional inventional inventional inventional additional inventional inventional additional additional additional inventional inventional additional inventional inventional additional additional inventional inventional inventional additional additional additional inventional inventional additional inventional additional additional additional inventional inventional inventional inventional additional inventional additional inventional inventional additional additional inventional additional additional additional
Pavel Richard E. Hongjie Andrew G. Ting Jason H. Jie Ken Andreas Daniel T.
Nikolaev Smalley Dai Rinzler Guo Hafner Liu Smith Thess Colbert