Patent ID: 7887774

Claim:
A method for separating carbon nanotubes based on their electronic type, said method comprising: a) suspending a plurality of carbon nanotubes in a solvent to form a plurality of suspended carbon nanotubes; wherein the plurality of suspended carbon nanotubes comprise metallic carbon nanotubes, semimetallic carbon nanotubes and semiconducting carbon nanotubes; b) reacting a substoichiometric amount of a functionalizing species with the plurality of suspended carbon nanotubes such that the metallic carbon nanotubes and the semimetallic carbon nanotubes, but not the semiconducting carbon nanotubes, react with the functionalizing species to form a mixture comprising functionalized metallic carbon nanotubes, functionalized semimetallic carbon nanotubes and unfunctionalized semiconducting carbon nanotubes; wherein the substoichiometric amount of the functionalizing species is with respect to the amount of carbon comprising the carbon nanotubes; and wherein the substoichiometric amount of the functionalizing species is selected such that a reaction of the functionalizing species occurs with the metallic carbon nanotubes and the semimetallic carbon nanotubes but not with the semiconducting carbon nanotubes; and c) separating the functionalized metallic carbon nanotubes and the functionalized semimetallic carbon nanotubes from the unfunctionalized semiconducting carbon nanotubes.