Quantitative determination of oxidative defects on single walled carbon nanotubes

A large variety of functional groups (i.e. carboxyl, carbonyl, aldehyde, alcohol) – representing the different oxidation states of carbon – can be produced by oxidative treatment of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), depending on duration and temperature of the process. For subsequent functionalization steps it is essential to know the quantitative amount of the functional groups being converted in a chemical reaction. X‐Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) proved to be a useful tool for such determination. Here, the asymmetry of the C1s core level in SWCNTs and the unknown peak positions of the functional groups prevented a detailed analysis of the produced oxidized carbon species. In this work we present an effective method to overcome this problem using XPS correlated with ab‐initio calculations of the Mulliken charges in functionalized SWCNTs. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)