Surface oxidation of single-walled carbon nanotube paper with oxygen atoms

Abstract

Single-walled carbon nanotube paper was surface oxidized with gaseous oxygen atoms produced by low-pressure: (1) vacuum UV (λ = 104.8 and 106.7 nm) photo-oxidation and (2) downstream microwave plasma discharge of an Ar–O₂ mixture. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was used to detect the carbon- and oxygen-containing functional groups in the top 2–5 nm of the sample’s surface. Both methods produced a saturation level of ca. 12 at.% oxygen with the predominant formation of the epoxide/ether groups.

Keywords:

• single-walled carbon nanotube paper
• oxygen atoms
• VUV photo-oxidation
• XPS
• surface modification