Abstract
Carbon nanotubes possess unique structures and outstanding properties. However, dispersion and manipulation of carbon nanotubes in solvents severely limit their application. A solution is building carbon nanotube-based microcapsules that combine both the properties of carbon nanotubes and capsules. Carbon nanotube-based microcapsules have indeed great potential applications including catalysts, adsorbents, and controlled-release materials. Here, we built carbon nanotube-based microcapsules by electrostatic self-assembly to develop novel composite materials. The construction and morphology of microcapsules were characterized by Raman spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Pre-films composed of poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) and poly(diallyldimethylammoinum chloride) were assembled onto calcium carbonate (CaCO3) microparticles to construct positive solid templates. The carboxylated carbon nanotubes were then successfully assembled on the CaCO3 template using a self-assembly technique. Ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) was used as a powerful chelating agent to remove the CaCO3 cores by chelation between EDTA and calcium, thus completing the construction of carbon nanotube-based hollow microcapsules. The spherical shapes of the microcapsules were well retained, and the carbon nanotubes were anchored evenly in the polyelectrolyte layers.
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Abbreviations
- SEM:
-
Scanning electron microscopy
- TEM:
-
Transmission electron microscopy
- FTIR:
-
Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy
- PSS:
-
Poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate)
- PDDA:
-
Poly(diallyldimethylammoinum chloride)
- EDTA:
-
Ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid
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Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China (21207125) and the Project of Zhejiang Sciences and Technology (2012C31027).
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Xu, L., Zhang, M. Construction of carbon nanotube-based microcapsules by self-assembly. Environ Chem Lett 12, 359–364 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-014-0455-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-014-0455-5