University of Arkansas

Chulho Song

Wei Zhao

A method for surface modification of single walled carbon nanotubes is described. In one embodiment, the method includes the steps of providing a detergent solution, adding a plurality of single walled carbon nanotubes into the detergent solution, performing a first sonication to disperse the single walled carbon nanotubes in the detergent solution, and performing a second sonication after the first sonication to make detergent encased single walled carbon nanotubes. At least one of the plurality of single walled carbon nanotubes is at least partially wrapped by one or more detergent molecules to make it a detergent encased single walled carbon nanotube. In one embodiment, the detergent comprises SDS, PSS or a combination of them. The surface modified carbon nanotubes can be used to detect a chemical compound by associating a solution of the surface modified nanotubes with the chemical compound and optically detecting a chemical property change of the solution.

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Anyang, South Korea

Chulho Song