Phase Behavior of DNA-Stabilized Carbon Nanotubes Dispersions: Association with Oppositely-Charged Additives

The formation of liquid crystalline phases or isotropic clusters is observed in carbon nanotubes systems experiencing repulsive and attractive interactions, respectively. ssDNA-stabilized nanotubes act as strongly repulsive charged rods, showing nematic phases in (pseudo)-binary and ternary systems, in the presence of a nonadsorbing polymer. Switching between purely repulsive and attractive regime has not been investigated yet. For this reason, dispersions of ssDNA-stabilized nanotubes were added with an oppositely charged additive (i.e., protein or surfactant), and the resulting systems were investigated. In both phase diagrams a strong associative behavior was observed. At additive charge excess, a redispersion of the complex was obtained. The phenomenon was substantial in the case of surfactant system, where a charge inversion was also observed. A fine-tuning of attractive and repulsive interactions promoted aggregation and redispersion of carbon nanotube complexes. The introduction of weak attractive forces may promote the formation a cluster phase of ssDNA-stabilized nanotubes, with possible application as "multicompartimental" delivery systems.