Abstract:
Methods for removing polymer coatings from the surfaces of single-walled carbon nanotubes are provided. The methods remove polymer coatings that are used to selectively wrap and sort semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes from metallic single-walled carbon nanotubes. The methods are based on a process of detaching a polymer coatings by binding transition metal complexes to bi-pyridine repeat units within the polymer backbone.