Spectroscopic Investigations into the Aqueous Two-Phase Partitioning of Carbon Nanotubes

Aqueous two-phase extraction is a robust and cost-effective technique recently demonstrated to successfully separate both surfactant-coated and DNA-wrapped single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) by diameter and electronic structure. In general, partitioning of the SWCNTs into the two different polymer phases can be modulated by the addition of different chemical species. We show that nanotube partitioning is additionally sensitive to redox chemistry, which can be tuned to sort surfactant dispersed SWCNTs by semiconducting bandgap and metallicity. Recent progress on high purity optical isomer separation of DNA-SWCNT hybrids will also be presented. Mechanistic insights are gained through spectroscopic studies.