ABSTRACT
Oxidation plays a crucial role in carbon nanomaterial purification as it utilizes the variations in the reactivity of different nanostructures and carbonaceous impurities toward oxidation. The large number of oxidation methods existing today is commonly divided into dry chemistry and wet chemistry approaches. In order to fully utilize the selectivity of the oxidation process at the nanoscale, a comprehensive understanding of the chemical and physical nature of a material and the structure dependence of the oxidation kinetics is required. Since the oxidation kinetics are closely related to structural features, reaction rates and activation energies are expected to differ for these distinct forms of carbon, which is an important factor for oxidation-based purification or surface functionalization. Different reaction mechanisms have been proposed for the oxidation of graphitic surfaces, the two most common being the Eley-Rideal mechanism (ERM) and the Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism (LHM).
