Email Print Share

All Images


News Release 06-144

Researchers Develop Method to Sort Carbon Nanotubes by Size and Electrical Properties

Method could make better batches for commercial applications

This material is available primarily for archival purposes. Telephone numbers or other contact information may be out of date; please see current contact information at media contacts.

Single-walled carbon nanotubes are coated in soap-like molecules.

Single-walled carbon nanotubes are coated in soap-like molecules called surfactants, then spun at tens of thousands of rotations per minute in an ultracentrifuge. The resulting density gradient sorts the nanotubes according to diameter, twist and electronic structure.

Credit: Zina Deretsky (adapted from Arnold et al.), National Science Foundation


Download the high-resolution JPG version of the image. (628 KB)

Use your mouse to right-click (Mac users may need to Ctrl-click) the link above and choose the option that will save the file or target to your computer.