A fast effective route to ph-dependent water dispersion of oxidized single-walled carbon nanotubes

Research on applications of carbon nanotubes in different branches of applied sciences and technologies have proved theses carbon nanostructures as ideal candidate materials for composite processing , catalytic supporting and for molecular sensoring. In particular, water-solubilization of single-walled carbon nanotubes has been widely studied, since these materials have shown enormous potentiality of employment in biological aqueous media . Methods of water-solubilization substantially follow two strategies: i.e., direct solubilization, achieved by covalent attachment of polar functionalities to shortened single wall nanoyubes, and dispersion of integral frames, provided by polar surface functionalization, surfactant and polymeric additives . We have been investigating the large-scale aerobic oxidation processes occurring to different graphenic systems, after chemical reduction , reporting particularly the achievement of water-soluble fragmented SWNT derivatives. In this letter, we describe the synthesis of integral water-dispersible oxidized single wall nanotubes structures , that have been massively oxygenated through a fast application of our previously reported protocol