Preferential elimination of metallic single-walled carbon nanotubes using microwave irradiation.

This study presents a simple, easy and rapid technique for the preferential destruction of metallic single-walled carbon nanotubes (m-SWNTs) using microwave irradiation. The proportion of m-SWNTs in a randomly networked film that were made of pristine SWNTs was gradually reduced with microwave irradiation of 1000 W at 2.45 GHz ranging from 0 to 20 min. Additionally it was observed that the m-SWNTs with a higher chiral angle were destroyed first. The Raman spectra and drain current-gate voltage characteristics curve show that this method facilitated the selective removal of m-SWNTs.