Abstract
As-synthetized single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) contain both metallic and semiconducting nanotubes. For the electronics, it is desirable to separate semiconducting SWCNTs (s-SWCNTs) from the metallic ones as s-SWCNTs provide desirable electronic properties. Here we test whether ultrapure semi-conducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (s-SWCNTs) provide advantageous electrochemical properties over the as prepared SWCNTs which contain a mixture of semiconducting and metallic CNTs. We test them as a transducer platform which enhanced the detection of target analytes (ascorbic acid, dopamine, uric acid) when compared to a bare glassy carbon (GC) electrode. Despite that, the two materials exhibit significantly different electrochemical properties and performances. A mixture of m-SWCNTs and s-SWCNTs demonstrated superior performance over ultrapure s-SWCNTs with greater peak currents and pronounced shift in peak potentials to lower values in cyclic and differential pulse voltammetry for the detection of target analytes. The mixture of m- and s-SWCNTs displayed about a 4 times improved heterogeneous electron transfer rate as compared to bare GC and a 2 times greater heterogeneous electron transfer rate than s-SWCNTs, demonstrating that ultrapure SWCNTs do not provide any major enhancement over the as prepared SWCNTs.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 27320-27325 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics |
Volume | 19 |
Issue number | 40 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2017 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:M. P. acknowledges support from Tier 1 (99/13) from the Singapore Ministry of Education. We wish to acknowledge funding support for this project from Nanyang Technological University under the Undergraduate Research Experience on CAmpus (URECA) programme.
Publisher Copyright:
© the Owner Societies 2017.
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Physics and Astronomy(all)
- Physical and Theoretical Chemistry