Cutting of carbon nanotubes by a two-roller mill

Abstract Cutting carbon nanotubes is an important issue encountered in many potential applications. It was found that multi-walled carbon nanotubes(MWNTs) could be cut short efficiently by a two-roller mill. The addition of poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) could increase the cutting efficiency and make the lengths of as shortened carbon nanotubes more uniform. Both the milling times and MWNTs' content in PMMA composite had positive effects on the final lengths of as shortened MWNTs. The shortened MWNTs obtained from PMMA composites containing 25% MWNTs after being milled for 20 times showed a narrow length distribution of 250–300 nm and could form a homogeneous and stable dispersion in H 2 CCl 2 .