Pure-chirality carbon nanotubes and methods

Abstract

A method of providing bulk products of pure-chirality single walled nanotubes having substantially one chirality, and bulk products of pure-chirality nanotubes having at least 50% one chirality. By providing bulk products of pure-chirality nanotubes, the electrical conductivity of the nanotubes can be predetermined and can be made more electrically conductive or more semi-conductive, as desired. Also provided are methods of purifying bulk products of multiple chirality nanotubes into pure-chirality nanotube bulk products, as well as methods of identifying chiralities of bulk product nanotubes. Moreover, fluorocarbon surfactant systems capable of solubilizing nanotubes in perfluorocarbon solvents and facilitating purification and processing are also provided.

1 . A bulk product comprising at least 10,000 nanotubes, wherein the nanotubes comprise at least 50% nanotubes of one (n,m) chirality.  
     
     
         2 . The bulk product of  claim 1 , wherein the bulk product is a solution or dispersion.  
     
     
         3 . The bulk product of  claim 2 , wherein the bulk product consists essentially of: 
 a liquid consisting of dispersant, solvent and/or solution; and    nanotubes comprising at least 90% of one (n,m) chirality.    
     
     
         4 . The bulk product of  claim 3 , wherein the liquid comprises perfluorocarbon solvent, and wherein the dispersion or solution comprises at least one milligram of nanotubes consisting essentially of a single, pure (n,m) chirality.  
     
     
         5 . The bulk product of  claim 4 , wherein the perfluorocarbon solvent comprises a hybrid organic-perfluorocarbon molecule.  
     
     
         6 . The bulk product of  claim 1 , wherein the nanotubes comprise at least 90% metallic or highly electrically conductive nanotubes, wherein: 
 n−m=3×I, wherein I is zero or any positive integer.    
     
     
         7 . The bulk product of  claim 1 , wherein the nanotubes comprise at least 90% semi-conductive nanotubes, wherein: 
 n−m=3×I, wherein I is not zero or any positive integer.    
     
     
         8 . The bulk product of  claim 1 , wherein the nanotubes comprise at least 90% nanotubes of one (n,m) chirality.  
     
     
         9 . The bulk product of  claim 1 , wherein the nanotubes comprise at least 98% nanotubes of one (n,m) chirality.  
     
     
         10 . The bulk product of  claim 1 , wherein the nanotubes comprise substantially all nanotubes of one (n,m) chirality.  
     
     
         11 . The bulk product of  claim 1 , wherein the bulk product comprises at least one milligram of at least 50% pure-chirality nanotubes.  
     
     
         12 . A method of reducing aggregation of pure-chirality single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) during storage, comprising: 
 mixing pure-chirality SWNTs with an inert perfluorocarbon-hydrocarbon hybrid surfactant additive.    
     
     
         13 . A method for growing pure-chirality single-walled carbon nanotubes (PC-SWNTs) comprising: 
 cutting bulk sample/product of PC-SWNT into suitable lengths to provide PC-SWNT seeds for nanotube growth;    adding a metal catalyst to one or both ends of the PC-SWNT seeds;    exposing the PC-SWNT seeds and the metal catalyst to a carbon feedstock at a predetermined pressure and a predetermined temperature; and    growing PC-SWNTs to form bulk quantities of PC-SWNTs with substantially the same chirality as the PC-SWNT seeds.    
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the growing PC-SWNTs step comprises catalyzing growth of PC-SWNTs by a high pressure carbon monoxide (HiPCO) process and/or a chemical vacuum deposition (CVD) to form bulk quantities of PC-SWNTs with substantially the same chirality as the PC-SWNT seeds.  
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the exposing the PC-SWNT seeds and the metal catalyst to a carbon feedstock comprises exposing the PC-SWNT seed and the metal catalyst to methane or carbon monoxide.  
     
     
         16 . Components for transistors, optical devices, coded-security tagging materials, and/or medical devices and/or applications comprising single-walled carbon nanotubes, wherein the single-walled carbon nanotubes comprise at least 50% nanotubes with the same (n,m) chirality.  
     
     
         17 . The components of  claim 16 , wherein the single-walled carbon nanotubes comprise at least 90% nanotubes with the same (n,m) chirality.  
     
     
         18 . The components of  claim 16 , wherein the single-walled carbon nanotubes comprise at least 98% nanotubes with the same (n,m) chirality.  
     
     
         19 . The components of  claim 16 , wherein the single-walled carbon nanotubes comprise nanotubes with substantially all the same (n,m) chirality.  
     
     
         20 . The components of  claim 16 , wherein the components comprise field effect transistors.