Optical isomer separation of single-chirality carbon nanotubes using gel column chromatography.

We report a gel column chromatography method for easily separating the optical isomers (i.e., left- and right-handed structures) of single-chirality carbon nanotubes. This method uses the difference in the interactions of the two isomers of a chiral single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) with an allyl dextran-based gel, which result from the selective interaction of the chiral moieties of the gel with the isomers. Using this technique, we sorted optical isomers of nine distinct (n, m) single-chirality species from HiPco SWCNTs, which is the maximum number of isolable species of SWCNTs reported to date. Because of its advantages of technical simplicity, low cost, and high efficiency, gel column chromatography allows researchers to prepare macroscopic ensembles of single-structure SWCNTs and enables the complete discovery of intrinsic properties of SWCNTs and advances their application.