Magnetic-field induced efficient alignment of carbon nanotubes in aqueous solutions

Efficient alignment of aqueous carboxyl-functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes having remanent iron catalyst particles are carried out in relatively low external magnetic fields (B <= 1017 mT). The nanotubes were grown by catalytic chemical vapor deposition and then functionalized in a multistep oxidation process using nitric acid and potassium permanganate. In the field-induced ordering, the ferromagnetic property of iron nanoparticles entrapped in the inner-tubular cavity of nanotubes is exploited. Considerable dichroism of nanotube solutions (up to 3.02) is measured and deposition of aligned CNT networks from the solutions on silicon substrates is demonstrated.