Activity Of Multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes Research Articles

Voltammetric study on pristine and nitrogen-doped multi-walled carbon nanotubes decorated with gold nanoparticles

Films consisting of pristine multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and nitrogen-doped MWCNTs (N-MWCNTs) were fabricated by means of chemical vapor deposition and chemically decorated with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). Optical microscopy and image analysis reveal that the deposited AuNPs have diameters of 50–200 nm and 100–400 nm, respectively. The AuNP-modified films of MWCNTs and of N-MWCNTs were initially investigated with respect to their response to the ferro/ferricyanide redox system. The N-MWCNTs/AuNPs exhibit lower detection limit (0.345 μM) for this redox system compared to that of MWCNTs/AuNPs (0.902 μM). This is probably due to the presence of nitrogen that appears to enhance the electrocatalytic activity of MWCNTs. The findings demonstrate that the electrochemical responses of both films are distinctly enhanced upon deposition of AuNPs on their surfaces. The detection limits of MWCNTs/AuNPs and N-MWCNTs/AuNPs systems are lower by about 43 % and 27 %, respectively, compared to films not modified with AuNPs. The electrocatalytic activity of the films towards the oxidation of ascorbic acid (AA), uric acid (UA), and dopamine (DA) was studied. The findings reveal that N-MWCNTs/AuNPs represent a powerful analytical tool that enables simultaneous analysis of AA, UA, and DA in a single experiment.

Absence of mutagenic and recombinagenic activity of multi-walled carbon nanotubes in the Drosophila wing-spot test and Allium cepa test

In order to assess the safety of the carbon nanotubes to human health and the environment, we investigated the potential toxicity and ability of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (NT), to induce DNA damage by employing the Allium cepa genotoxicity/mutagenicity test and the Somatic Mutation and Recombination Test (SMART) in the fruitfly, Drosophila melanogaster. The results demonstrated that NT did not significantly induce genotoxic or mutagenic effects in the Allium cepa test. All concentrations evaluated in the SMART assay showed survival rates higher than 90percent, indicating the absence of chronic toxicity for NT. Furthermore, the various treatments showed no significant increase in the NT mutation and recombination frequencies in mwh/flr3 genotype compared to respective negative controls, demonstrating the absence of DNA damage caused by NT.

Immunomodulatory properties of multi-walled carbon nanotubes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy subjects and allergic patients

In the present study, we investigated the immunomodulatory activity of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from healthy donors and mite-allergic subjects. Freshly prepared PBMCs, stimulated or not with Toll-like receptor (TLR)1–9 agonists, a T cell mitogen (phytohemagglutinin A) or mite allergen extract were cultured in the presence or absence of MWCNTs. Secretion of TNF-α, IL-2, IL-5, IL-6, IL-12/23p40 or IFN-γ was quantified in the culture supernatants by ELISA. Basal secretion of all the cytokines was not altered by MWCNTs in PBMCs from both healthy donors and allergic subjects. In PBMCs from healthy donors, TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-12/23p40 secretion in response to the TLR4 agonist, lipopolysaccharide was however increased in a dose-dependent manner by MWCNTs. Significant increases in the release of these cytokines were also observed in PBMCs stimulated with a TLR2 or TLR3 agonist. MWCNTs also increased the release of IL-2 and IFN-γ by PBMCs stimulated with a T cell mitogen. In contrast, MWCNTs inhibited allergen-induced IL-5 secretion by PBMCs from mite-allergic subjects. As well, MWCNTs altered the capacity of PBMC-derived monocytes to differentiate into functional dendritic cells. All together, our data suggest that according to its immune cell target, MWCNTs may either promote or suppress immune responses in humans. Further investigations are necessary to fully understand the complexity behind interactions of engineered nanoparticles with the immune system.

Effect of Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes on the Photocatalytic Degradation of Methyl Orange in Aqueous Solution Under Visible Light Irradiation

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) as a usual supporter were directly used as a visible light photocatalyst for the degradation of methyl orange (MO) in aqueous solution. The MWNTs exhibited high photocatalytic activity for the degradation of MO under visible light irradiation. Moreover, the photocatalytic activity of MWNTs was greatly enhanced when Pt nanoparticles were loaded on the surface of MWNTs. In order to understand the photocatalytic behavior of MWNTs, the electrochemical impedance spectra and the adsorption characterization of MWNTs were investigated. On the basis of these experiments, a possible visible light photocatalytic degradation mechanism was discussed.

Factors affecting the catalytic activity of multi-walled carbon nanotube for ozonation of oxalic acid

Ozonation of oxalic acid in aqueous solution was conducted using multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) as the catalyst. The effects of operating conditions on the catalytic performance of MWCNT for oxalic acid removal were investigated. The catalyst dosage and the reaction temperature exert positive effects on the oxalic acid removal by MWCNT catalytic ozonation. The maximum degradation efficiency of oxalic acid is obtained with its initial concentration of 1.0 mM. The degradation efficiency of oxalic acid increases with the initial pH value in the range of 1.0–3.0, whereas an opposite trend is observed when the initial pH value further increases from 3.0 to 6.1. The effect of initial pH value indicates that the oxalic acid adsorption on catalyst surface is essential for its effective removal by MWCNT catalytic ozonation. The inhibition of tert-butanol on the activity of MWCNT at initial pH 6.1 is more significant compared with the case of initial pH 3.0, suggesting that the contribution of bulk reactions to oxalic acid removal would be strengthened at a high initial pH value.

Effect of surface oxygen containing groups on the catalytic activity of multi-walled carbon nanotube supported Pt catalyst

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) supported platinum catalysts were employed to study the support functionalization on their catalytic performances. The MWNT were subjected to HNO3 functionalization, in which oxygen containing groups (OCGs) were introduced to improve Pt dispersion. The MWNT supports were characterized by nitrogen physisorption and NEXAFS, and the Pt supported on differently functionalized MWNT characterized by X-ray absorption, TEM and both hydrogen and CO chemisorption. Compared to the as received MWNT supports, Pt dispersion is improved on the HNO3 treated MWNT supports, but the turnover frequency (TOF) of aqueous phase reforming decreases by half. The TOF can be recovered by removing the OCGs via high temperature annealing. To further investigate the OCGs effect, different probe reactions, including both steam reforming and liquid phase reforming of hydrocarbon oxygenates and dehydrogenation of alkanes in the liquid and gas phases, have been performed on the MWNT supported catalysts with different OCGs. A comparison of these reaction results suggests that OCGs are only detrimental to reactions in a binary mixture with two components of different hydrophilicity due to their competitive adsorption on the catalyst supports.

Effect of ozonation pretreatment on the surface properties and catalytic activity of multi-walled carbon nanotube

Multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) has been used in the catalytic ozonation of oxalic acid in aqueous solution, which was pretreated using ozone and was characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), nitrogen adsorption and Boehm titration. The effect of ozonation pretreatment on the catalytic activity of MWCNT and the ozonation mechanism of oxalic acid in the presence of MWCNT were investigated. The results indicate that with the increasing pretreatment time, the atom ratio of oxygen to carbon and the number of surface acid groups on MWCNT increase, while the catalytic activity of MWCNT on ozonation of oxalic acid decreases, suggesting that the chemical characteristics of MWCNT mainly determine its catalytic activity on oxalic acid mineralization. The inhibition of tert-butyl alcohol on the degradation of oxalic acid is slight for pristine MWCNT catalytic ozonation and this inhibition trend becomes more obvious when MWCNT was pretreated by ozone. A free radical mechanism was proposed which involves both surface reactions and bulk reactions between the oxalic acid and active species.

Apparent ‘electrocatalytic’ activity of multiwalled carbon nanotubes in the detection of the anaesthetic halothane: occluded copper nanoparticles

The electrocatalytic detection of the anaesthetic halothane on a multiwalled carbon nanotube modified glassy carbon electrode is reported with a low limit of detection of 4.6 microM. A thorough investigation of the underlying cause of this apparent catalytic effect is undertaken by comparing the response of various carbon electrodes including glassy carbon, basal- and edge-plane pyrolytic graphite electrodes (bppg and eppg respectively) to increasing additions of halothane. The reduction of halothane is shifted by 250-300 mV to more negative potentials at an eppg electrode than that observed at the GC-CNT electrode. Therefore the results of this investigation show that, surprisingly, the electrocatalysis is not solely due to the introduction of edge-plane-like defect sites on the carbon nanotubes as is commonly found for many other substrates showing favourable voltammetry at nanotube modified electrodes. Instead, we reveal that in this unusual case the electroactive sites for the reduction of halothane are due to the presence of copper nanoparticles occluded within the carbon nanotubes during their production, which are never completely removed by standard purification techniques such as acid washing. This is only the third known case where apparent electrocatalysis by carbon nanotube modified electrodes is due to occluded metal-related nanoparticles within the nanotube structure, rather than the active sites being the edge-plane-like defect sites on the nanotubes. Furthermore this is the first case where the active sites are nanoparticles of copper metal, rather than metal oxide nanoparticles (namely oxides of iron(II)/(III)) as was found to be the case in the previous examples.

Catalytic Activity of Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes for the Oxidation of Nitric Oxide

Abstract The acid-treated Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes (MWNTs) was dropped on the surface of glassy carbon electrode to form a modified electrode. The MWNTs showed the strong catalytic activity for the electrochemical oxidation of nitric oxide (NO) and the catalytic currents were proportional to the NO concentrations in submicromolar range.