Wednesday, 16 May 2007
3rd Floor Hall (Pfahler Hall)
93

Cyanoferrate functionalization of single-walled carbon nanotubes

Vanessa Boschi, Mark D. Ellison, and Brian Pfennig. Ursinus College, Collegeville, PA

Nanotubes have numerous applications including the fabrication of thermal and electrical conductivity materials and biomedical research owing to their very unique chemical and physical properties which are further explored in this research. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) were reacted with sodium nitrate, sulfuric acid, and pyridine to produce pyridine-functionalized nanotubes, which were analyzed using UV/Visible and IR spectroscopy. The UV/Vis spectrum lacked the individual peak absorptions that are typical of pure nanotubes and more closely resembled the spectrum of functionalized nanotubes. The pyridine nanotubes were then placed in a solution of sodium amminepenta-cyanoferrate(II) hydrate in anticipation that the coordination compound will bind to the pyridine groups, thus producing penta-cyanoferrate(II) functionalized nanotubes. IR will be used to confirm this, concentrating particularly on the carbon-nitrogen stretches. Using cyclic voltametry and the concept of chemically modified electrodes, the extent of functionalization can be quantified and chemical properties of the iron-functionalized nanotubes identified.

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