Microwave Induced Reactive Base Wash for the Removal of Oxidation Debris from Carboxylated Carbon Nanotubes.

Removal of oxidation debris for generating high purity functionalized carbon nanotubes (CNTs) has been a challenge, where base washing has been found to be an effective purification treatment. In this paper we report microwave induced reactive base wash (MRW) as a fast, green alternate to conventional filtrate washing. Carboxylated CNTs of three different dimensions were subjected to MRW and the results were compared to conventional base-wash. The results showed that MRW was an effective method for the removal of oxidation debris which reduced the reaction time from 4 hours to 20 min and alkali consumption by 75%. The CNTs from MRW were similar to those from conventional base wash in terms of dimensions, elemental composition, BET surface area and colloidal stability in aqueous media.