Formation of Unzipped Carbon Nanotubes by CF4 Plasma Treatment

In this paper we report the evidence of formation of short and unzipped single-walled carbon nanoube (SWCNTs) through a facile and scalable plasma method. The approach consists of a CF4 RF plasma treatment of SWCNTs; transmission electron microscopy as well as atomic force microscopy showed the evidence of the attainment of unzipped SWCNTs by this method. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy have been used to demonstrate the fluorination of such nanostructures. The production of such nanostructured architectures may allow for their large scale integration into polymer based nanocomposites.