Characterization of paramagnetic carbon nanotubes, determination of toxicity and purification purposes

Carbon nanotubes, become popular in the area of chromatography thanks to their high surface area and adsorption capabilities. They mainly consists of two types; single-walled (SWCNT) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT). Their structure is like tubes of graphene sheets formed by a direction vector. They can be at least 0,4 nm in width. From 0.4 nm to 2 nm, they are classified as single-walled. MWCNTs can be produced in the range of 2 nm- 100 nm. MWCNTs have more surface area than SWCNTs. CNTs can be modified wih salts of iron (Fe) to be paramagnetic thanks to their high capacity of adsorption. Operation is basically consists of mixing and sonicating Fe-Salt complex with specific chemicals and CNTs. The final product can be collected easily with a permanent magnet. In the last decade, it is possible to see many important researches about paramagnetic CNTs. Big portion of these works are focused on purification of water from heavy metals and plastic originated compounds. In these purification processes paramagnetic MWCNTs are used generally. Phthalate Acid Esters (PAE) are present in enourmous amount of PVC based materials. Consequently, PAEs can mix with environmental water, earth and other food and drinks that are packed with plastic products. PAEs has very harmful effects on human health such as they can damage endocrine system and prevent hormones working properly. Hence, this work focused in filtration capabilities of paramagnetic CNTs by using DEP as target compound specifically. Short MWCNTs which are subjected to toxicity tests formerly will be used. There is no reasearch made with short MWCNTs in the area. Therefore, it is important that new information about these CNTs will be obtanied.