Depolarized dynamic light scattering study of multi-walled carbon nanotubes in solution

Evaluation of size and morphology of carbon nanotubes in solution has been one of the key issues for their applications. Here we investigate the dispersion states of several multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) in aqueous solutions by the depolarized dynamic light scattering (DDLS) technique. The estimated size and morphology by monitoring the rotational diffusion and the translational diffusion are compared with those obtained by transmission electron microscope (TEM) image analysis. Agreement between the DDLS and TEM results suggest that DDLS is a quite powerful tool for evaluating the morphology of MWCNTs in solutions.