Patent ID: 7892599

Claim:
A method for functionalizing the surface of nanomaterials comprising: washing nanomaterials comprising soft agglomerates with an organic acid; treating the washed nanomaterials with a surface stabilizing species selected from the group consisting of: nitrogen containing organic compounds, oxygen containing organic compounds, oxygen and nitrogen containing organic compounds, chalcogenide containing organic compounds, polyalkylimines, polyalkeneimines, and quaternary ammonium species; and wherein the treatment step functionalizes the surface of the nanomaterials by creating a layer on the surface of the nanomaterials; wherein the layer has a volume fraction that is given by the relationship: γ s <1/( d p /3+1) wherein, γ s is the volume fraction of the surface stabilizing species and d p is the average domain size of the nanomaterials measured in nanometers.