ORIGINAL PAPER Applications of TGA in quality control of SWCNTs

Abstract Carbon nanotubes exhibit a range of chemistries, including mixtures of different nanotube diameters, lengths, and chiralities coupled with various concentrations of metallic and non-nanotube-carbon impurities. The perfor-mance of a given material for a specific application depends on the chemistry, which is dictated in large part by the manufacturing process. Here, thermogravimetric analysis is utilized as a bulk characterization method for determining nanotube quality after manufacturing. The application of thermogravimetric analysis for quantifying basic nanotube chemistry is described (e.g., carbon-to-metal content, homogeneity). In addition, extension of the method to analyze specific nanotube properties (i.e., length and diameter) is reported. Results indicate that thermogravi-metric analysis is sufficiently sensitive to enable quality control at both the macro-scale (carbon-to-metal ratio) and nano-scale (single-walled to multi-walled) and can detect subtle modifications in manufacturing processes