NIST Announces Release of First Certified Reference Material for Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes
On December 20, 2011, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced it issued the world’s first reference material for single-wall carbon nanotube soot. According to NIST, “nanotube-laden soot is the primary industrial source of single-wall carbon nanotubes, perhaps the archetype of all nanoscale materials.” NIST states that the new material “offers companies and researchers a badly needed source of uniform and well-characterized carbon nanotube soot for material comparisons, as well as chemical and toxicity analysis.” NIST certifies each unit of SRM 2483 for the mass fraction values of several common contaminants, including barium, cerium, chlorine, cobalt, dysprosium, europium, gadolinium, lanthanum, molybdenum, and samarium. NIST provides reference values (values believed to be accurate, but not rising to the level of confidence that NIST certifies) for an additional seven elements. NIST has also posted a material safety data sheet (MSDS) for the reference material.
