Formation of unzipped carbon nanotubes by CF4 plasma treatment

In this paper the evidence of the formation of short and unzipped single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNTs) through a facile and scalable plasma method is reported. The approach consists of a CF4 RF plasma treatment of SWCNTs; transmission electron microscopy as well as atomic force microscopy showed the evidence of the attainment of unzipped SWCNTs chemical microanalysis has been used to demonstrate the fluorination of such nanostructures. The production of such nanostructured architectures may allow for their large scale integration into polymer based nanocomposites. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.