Large-scale preparation of solubilized carbon nanotubes

We report here a method that can be used to easily prepare bulk quantities of solubilized carbon nanotubes. The method is derived from Haddon's method in which we have modified the separation process by using two Soxhlet extractors in the procedure. Both primary and secondary amines could be used as starting materials to solubilize carbon nanotubes in our process, and the solubilized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) were fully characterized. Owing to the large quantity of solubilized MWNTs obtained, several basic properties such as the solubility and the percentage content of tubes in the solubilized samples have been determined and analyzed. Typical solubilized MWNT/polymer composites were also fabricated and their electronic and thermal properties were investigated.