Length-based carbon nanotube ladders
OwnerZahra Borzooeian, Mohammad E. Tasliminventors
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Abstract
In one aspect, the present invention is generally directed to methods for measuring distribution of lengths of a collection of carbon nanotubes. In particular, the present teachings provide an indicator for length-based separation of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) via conjugation of one or more biomolecules onto the surfaces of the nanotubes. As discussed in more detail below, in some embodiments, such a method can include conjugating a biomolecule to the carbon nanotubes and subject the conjugated carbon nanotubes to silver-stained gel electrophoresis to separate the conjugated carbon nanotubes based on their lengths.
Claims30
A method of determining distribution of lengths of a collection of carbon nanotubes, comprising:
- conjugating a biomolecule to surfaces of at least a portion of the carbon nanotubes,
- separating the conjugated carbon nanotubes having different lengths based on their different charge and size-dependent mobilities,
- wherein said conjugating step comprises carboxylating said carbon nanotubes, and
- wherein said conjugating step further comprises covalently linking said biomolecule to COOH moieties of said carboxylated carbon nanotubes.
A method of determining distribution of lengths of a collection of carbon nanotubes, comprising:
- conjugating a biomolecule to surfaces of at least a portion of the carbon nanotubes,
- separating the conjugated carbon nanotubes having different lengths based on their different charge and size-dependent mobilities,
- wherein said step of separating the conjugated carbon nanotubes comprises subjecting said carbon nanotubes to gel electrophoresis,
- wherein said step of subjecting the conjugated carbon nanotubes to gel electrophoresis separates the conjugated carbon nanotubes into separate bands corresponding to their lengths.
A method of determining average length of a sample of carbon nanotubes, comprising:
- labelling each of a plurality of carbon nanotubes with a biological moiety, to provide labelled carbon nanotubes;
- subjecting the labelled carbon nanotubes to gel electrophoresis, to provide an electrophoresis gel comprising the labelled carbon nanotubes;
- treating the electrophoresis gel comprising the labelled carbon nanotubes with a visualizing agent to provide stained, labelled carbon nanotubes;
- measuring at a plurality of locations in the electrophoresis gel the visual intensity of the stained, labelled carbon nanotubes;
- wherein the average length of the stained, labelled carbon nanotubes is a function of their distance travelled in the electrophoresis gel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.