Inventors:
Richard E. Smalley - Houston TX, US
Daniel T. Colbert - Houston TX, US
Hongjie Dai - Sunnyvale CA, US
Jie Liu - Chapel Hill NC, US
Andrew G. Rinzler - Newberry FL, US
Jason H. Hafner - Houston TX, US
Kenneth A. Smith - Katy TX, US
Ting Guo - Davis CA, US
Pavel Nikolaev - Houston TX, US
Andreas Thess - Kusterdingen, DE
Assignee:
Wiiliam Marsh Rice University - Houston TX
International Classification:
D01F 9/12
US Classification:
428367, 4234472, 977DIG 1
Abstract:
This invention relates generally to a method for producing self-assembled objects comprising single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) and compositions thereof. In one embodiment, the present invention involves a three-dimensional structure of derivatized single-wall nanotube molecules that spontaneously form. It includes several component molecule having multiple derivatives brought together to assemble into the three-dimensional structure. In another embodiment, objects may be obtained by bonding functionally-specific agents (FSAs) groups of nanotubes into geometric structures. The bond selectivity of FSAs allow selected nanotubes of a particular size or kind to assemble together and inhibit the assembling of unselected nanotubes that may also be present.