Cutting of multi-walled carbon nanotubes by solid-state reaction

Current carbon nanotubes (CNT) are typically synthesized with micrometer lengths and low dispersion. In this study, a new approach is reported to cut the conventional long and entangled CNTs to short and dispersed ones with lengths of less than 200 nm. This was achieved by depositing NiO particles on CNTs first and then inducing a chemical reaction between them. The present cutting approach based on such a solid-state reaction has advantages of producing short CNTs with a narrow length distribution, high dispersion, and a low material loss over previous ones based on a gaseous or liquid-state reaction. Such short CNTs would fill the large gap between small spheroidal fullerenes and long CNTs and be of paramount scientific and technological importance in many fields such as electronics, diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, environmental and energy industries.