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Updated: Aug 26, 2025

Engineering Molecular Recognition with Bio-mimetic Polymers on Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes
Published on: January 10, 2017
Compositional Analysis of ssDNA-Coated Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes through UV Absorption Spectroscopy
Ali A Alizadehmojarad1, Sergei M Bachilo1, R Bruce Weisman1,2
1Department of Chemistry and the Smalley-Curl Institute, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States.
Abstract:
Aqueous suspensions of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) coated by ssDNA are analyzed using UV absorption and total carbon measurements. The results give absolute average concentrations of both components in samples without free ssDNA. From those values, the average mid-UV SWCNT absorptivity is deduced for three different batches of relatively small diameter nanotubes: two HiPco and one CoMoCAT. The absorptivity values enable the use of simple spectrophotometry to measure absolute concentrations of similar SWCNT samples in aqueous SDS. The results also quantify the mass ratio of ssDNA to SWCNT, defining the average number of nanotube carbon atoms suspended by one ssDNA strand of T15GT15 or T30G. Comparing this experimental parameter with results from replica exchange molecular dynamics simulations of one ssDNA strand freely adsorbed on a (6,5) segment shows close agreement between the computed number of SWCNT atoms covered per strand and the measured number of SWCNT atoms suspended per strand.
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