Abstract
We investigated single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) and DNA-SWNT hybrids by atomic force microscopy (AFM). From the AFM observation of several different types of SWNTs and DNA-SWNT hybrids in air, we found several specific differences in morphology among the samples. First, longer SWNT molecules were observed when the SWNT was dispersed using a bath type sonicator. When a probe type sonicator was employed, much shorter SWNT molecules were observed in all of our experiments using several different SWNTs. The result suggests that effects of the type of sonicator on SWNT length were significant in contrast to that of the type of SWNTs. Second, SWNT functionalized with polyethyleneglycol (PEG SWNT), amino group (NH 2 SWNT), and carboxyl group (COOH SWNT) individually showed specific features in AFM images. Although NH 2 SWNT is typically soluble in organic solvents, uniform distribution was observed when DNA molecules were mixed with NH 2 SWNT. Finally, we observed DNASWNT hybrids by AFM in liquids for the first time. DNA-SWNT hybrids were significantly swollen in the aqueous solution even though the sample was dried once. This is helpful information for considering biological applications of the DNA-SWNT hybrids.
Published Version
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