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Oxidation Of N-Doped Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes And Formation Of Discontinuous Spiraled Carbon Nanoribbons, Aman Preet Kaur, Mark S. Meier, Rodney Andrews, Dali Qian

Chemistry Faculty Publications

The effects of five commonly used wet chemical oxidations were studied for the extent of oxidation of graphitized nitrogen-doped multiwalled carbon nanotubes (N-MWCNTs). KMnO₄/ H₂SO₄ was the most potent oxidant, as it produced the highest fraction of oxygen-containing functional groups. Electron microscopy studies showed that the treatment of annealed N-MWCNTs (G-N-MWCNTs) with H₂SO₄/HNO₃ and H₂SO₄/KMnO₄ mixtures leads to interesting spiraled ribbon textures. A structural model, involving the stacking of coiled subunits to form a discontinuous carbon nanoribbon rather than a continuous ribbon is proposed to …