Fabrication and characterization of fluorinated single-walled carbon nanotubes

Abstract

The optimum conditions for the fluorination of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) in the atmosphere of gaseous fluorine with the nanotube structure remaining intact up to a stoichiometry of CF x , x ∼ 0.5 were determined. The kinetics of fluorination was examined. The fluorinated SWCNTs were characterized by various methods, including transmission electron microscopy, measurements of specific surface area and accessible internal volume, NMR spectroscopy, IR spectroscopy, X-ray absorption and photoelectron spectroscopies, thermal stability, and analysis of gaseous products by mass-spectrometry. The structure of fluorinated SWCNT was preserved up to brutto-composition CF0.5 but degree of fluorination of SWCNT bundles was decreased with distance from the SWCNT surface to its core. Such a decrease becomes evident at ∼1.5 nm distance. It means that the degree of fluorination depends on the degree of its dispersion.