Development of hybrid nanomaterials of polymers and carbon nanotubes

Carbon nanotubes with unique photophysical, electrical, and thermal properties have received increasing attention for diverse technological applications. While bulk carbon nanotubes are incorporated in diverse commercial products ranging from rechargeable batteries, automotive parts, sporting goods, and water filters, nanotubes in suspension form are being explored in biomedical areas. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) have been studied as molecular imaging agents, biosensors for disease detection, drug, and gene carrier, as research tools to study fundamental biology, field-effect transistors, and others. Pristine single-walled carbon nanotubes, which occur as bundled structures due to strong van der Waals interactions, however, are optically quenched and insoluble in common solvents. Chemical agents such as surfactants and polymers are generally used to functionalize, de-bundle and solubilize SWCNTs for processing and applications. In this talk, we present co-assembly of polymers and carbon nanotubes to prepare hybrid nanomaterials with tunable surface functionalization to modulate their physicochemical properties and nanomolecular interactions.