Short carbon nanotubes produced by cryogenic crushing

A cryogenic crushing method to produce short carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is described. Crushing CNTs at liquid nitrogen temperature allows them to be shortened and make them appreciably soluble in a solvent without any dispersant. Typical lengths of less than 500 nm were obtained from 30 min crushing. The CNTs were characterized using atomic force microscopy, thermogravimetric, and Raman analyses.