Portrait of carbon nanotube salts as soluble polyelectrolytes

Soluble single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) salts have been synthesized with varying negative charges, and their saturation solubilities in DMSO measured. A thermodynamic model of the Gibbs free energy of dissolution, widely used for polyelectrolytes, reproduces the experimental results with striking agreement. SWNT salts appear as a paradigm of stiff polyelectrolytes.