Binding Capacity and Selectivity of Functionalized and Un-functionalized Carbon Nanotubes for Development of Copper-Detecting Printable Sensor

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have unique properties which can be modified through surface functionalization. The ability of several functionalized and un-functionalized CNTs to bind copper was investigated as a first step toward developing a printable CNT-based sensor to detect copper in aqueous systems. Binding capacity and specificity were shown to vary by functionalization and vendor. CNTs from two vendors were tested, and the equilibrium binding data was fitted using two isotherm models. Calculated q max (mg/g) values indicated one vendor’s carboxyl-functionalized CNTs had the greatest binding capacity (94–115 mg/g), while other carboxyl-functionalized CNTs and amine-functionalized CNTs had similar capacities to un-functionalized CNTs (15–30 mg/g). Hydroxyl-functionalized CNTs had the lowest copper binding capacity (7–8 mg/g) of the CNTs tested. Freundlich isotherms showed no obvious trends in binding affinity, but suggested that binding was primarily due to chemisorption. Variations in CNT size, functionalization percentage, and purity could explain, partially, the observed adsorption differences.