Preparation of long supramolecular carbon nanotubes

Abstract

One of the most important characteristics of carbon nanotubes, CNTs, that distinguishes them from other materials and motivates scientists to use them as highly efficient tools in a wide variety of applications, is their one dimensionality, i.e. long length and small diameter. Unfortunately there is strong evidence that long carbon nanotubes show asbestos-like pathology. Herein we report a method to produce supramolecular systems consisting of linear–dendritic copolymers and short CNTs, LDCNTs. In this method, linear–dendritic copolymers with peripheral aromatic groups are used to connect short carbon nanotubes, SCNTs, toward ultra-long and highly flexible carbon nanotubes. The π–π stacking of dendritic blocks of a linear–dendritic copolymer onto the surface of SCNTs is the main driving force to create LDCNTs. Since in the section lengths connections are noncovalent, they can be broken down to SCNTs in biological systems and therefore asbestos-like carcinogenicity of LDCNTs could probably be avoided.