Purification of Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes and Characterization of Their Oxygen-Containing Surface Groups

We conveniently removed the Ni-MgO catalyst components from an as-grown multiwalled carbon nanotube (CNT) using an aqueous HNO3 solution with strong acidity and oxidizability as a purifying reagent. Some oxygen-containing surface groups were generated at the CNT surface, which converted the hydrophobic surface into a hydrophilic surface. The phase composition and the oxygen-containing surface groups of the CNTs treated by nitric acid were determined and characterized using Boehm's neutralizing titration method and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), temperature-programmed desorption (TPD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) techniques. The results indicated that the total content of the formed oxygen-containing surface groups was the highest for the CNTs treated with 7.0 mol.L-1 aqueous HNO3 at 378 K for 24 h. The content of the three major oxygen-containing surface groups was: carboxyl>lactonic carboxyl>phenolic hydroxyl.