APPLICATION OF SINGLE WALLED CARBON NANOTUBES IN

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ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING: ADSORPTION AND DESORPTION OF

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ENVIRONMENTALLY RELEVANT SPECIES STUDIED BY INFRARED

SPECTROSCOPY AND TEMPERATURE PROGRAMMED DESORPTION

4351

ID

University of Pittsburgh

2005

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS.v

LIST OF TABLES vii

LIST OF FIGURES . viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xii

1.0 INTRODUCTION .1

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 3

2.1 CARBON NANOTUBES AND THEIR ENVIRONMENTAL APPLICATIONS3

2.2 OXYGEN CONTAINING FUNCTIONALITIES ON NANOTUBE SURFACE AND THEIR

DETECTION 9

2.3 INFRARED STUDY OF CARBON NANOTUBES 13

2.4 KINETICS OF DESORPTION FROM SOLID SURFACES.16

2.5 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 18

3.0 EXPERIMENTAL.19

3.1 ULTRA HIGH VACUUM SETUP .19

3.1.1 Infrared cell.19

3.1.2 Temperature programmed desorption chamber 21

3.2 SAMPLE PREPARATION .23

3.2.1 Activated carbon fiber.23

3.2.2 Single walled carbon nanotubes24

3.2.3 Adsorbates.25

3.3 TEMPERATURE PROGRAMMED DESORPTION.25

3.4 INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY26

3.5 FLUORESCENCE LABELING EXPERIMENT .28

3.6 OTHER TECHNIQUES USED IN THE STUDY 30

4.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION32

4.1 INFRARED STUDY OF THE FATE OF FUNCTIONAL GROUPS ON NANOTUBE SURFACES

DURING THERMAL ANNEALING32

4.2 FLUORESCENCE LABELING OF SURFACE SPECIES ON CARBON MATERIAL SURFACES

.48

4.2.1 Detection of low concentration oxygen containing functional groups on activated carbon fiber

surfaces through fluorescent labeling.48

4.2.2 Fluorescence labeling of surface functional groups on single walled carbon nanotube

surfaces59

4.3 AMMONIA ADSORPTION ON, AND DESORPTION FROM NANOTUBES 63

4.4 INTERACTION BETWEEN HYDROGEN SULFIDE AND SINGLE WALLED CARBON

NANOTUBES85

4.5 INTERACTION BETWEEN ACETONE AND SINGLE WALLED CARBON NANOTUBES .90

5.0 ENVIRONMENTAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS STUDY102

6.0 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 104

7.0 SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE WORK106

APPENDIX A108

APPENDIX B109

BIBLIOGRAPHY.110