Selective Nitrogen Doping of Carbon Nanotubes Through Different Mechanical Mixing Methods with Melamine

The formation of bonding configurations such as pyridinic-N, pyrrolic-N, and graphitic-N by nitrogen doping plays a crucial role in imparting distinct physical properties to carbon nanomaterials. In this study, we propose a simple and cost-effective approach to regulate nitrogen dopant configurations in carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by mixing melamine as a dopant source. We employed three distinct mechanical mixing techniques, namely magnetic stirring, bath sonication and tip sonication. The higher the ratio of melamine to CNT, the higher the ratio of Pyrrolic-N, and when mixed through stirring, the highest ratio of Pyridinic-N was shown. The facile method proposed in this study, which can easily form various types of nitrogen dopants in carbon nanotubes, is expected to facilitate the application of nitrogen-doped carbon nanomaterials.