KCS

Carbon nanotubes possess unique properties that have led to an increase in research in a wide variety of fields. This growing demand and use of carbon nanotubes poses a potential health risk and may have detrimental effects in the environment. There is a significant gap of information of the actual quantity of carbon nanotubes in the environment. However the detection methods that are specific to carbon nanotubes are very limited mainly due to the ubiquitous carbon chemistry of carbon nanotubes. In response to these deficiencies, a novel method that utilizes a structural differentiation of carbon nanotubes was developed for carbon nanotube detection in water. The specific affinity between single walled nanotubes (SWNT) and G/T alternating ssDNA was employed to capture SWNT in water. A rapid, SWNT-specific separation was obtained by the use of magnetic field. Dual fluorescent labels that are attached to sandwich ssDNA probes were used for the precise quantification. A calibration curve (r2 = 0.90) was successfully made using a range of SWNT concentration against the planar graphene that was used as a negative control. The findings of this research suggest that this method is of great sensitivity and specificity for carbon nanotube detection in aqueous environment.