(72e) Dispersion Of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes In Proteins: Characterization And Potential Applications

Highly stable dispersions of debundled single-walled carbon nanotubes in aqueous solution are an important prerequisite for their applications and for the development of nanotube-based molecular electronic and nanobiomedical devices. Here we report that proteins can work very well as dispersing agents for nanotubes, if their primary structure and the pH of the system are chosen appropriately. Proteins containing a high amount of basic residues, e.g., histone, were found to be the most promising protein tools for the dispersion of nanotubes. The dispersion characteristics of the products were investigated in detail using different microscopic, spectroscopic, and rheological methods. Finally, the potential applications of the dispersed protein-nanotubes will be discussed.