Kinetics of methane adsorption on HiPco purified single-walled carbon nanotubes

Opening the ends of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) has many technical as well as fundamental importance. However, during the purification process, the ends of the single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are blocked due to the attachment of chemical functional groups.;Previous studies concluded that the ends of the SWNTs can be opened by thermal activation which may result in an increase in the gas storage capacity of the nanotubes. In this study we focus on the effect of thermal activation.;Two different samples of HiPco purified SWNTs from the same production line were thermally activated at 573 K and 673 K. The effects of thermal activation were observed through adsorption kinetic measurements of methane adsorption on these samples.;Comparative study of these measurements revealed the evidence of opening the SWNTs by thermal activation.