Fluorination of Carbon Nanotubes - A Review

Carbon nanotubes have become very popular since their discovery at the end of XXth century, due to their unique properties and many potential applications. Depending on the kind of final application, CNTs have to fulfil special requirements, concerning i.e. their purity, specific sizes or properties. Despite of the kind of applied synthesis method, pristine carbon nanotubes are not ready for applications, they have to be first purified and functionalised. For this purpose, the nanostructures have to be subjected to a series of operations aiming to obtain pure carbon nanotubes with specific characteristics. Apart purification, carbon nanotubes can be functionalised and the latter process can occur simultaneously with purification or can be performed as a separate process. Fluorination is one of the methods enabling an efficient functionalisation of carbon nanotubes. The paper presents a review of fluorination of carbon nanotubes as well as potential sources of performance improvement of the process.