Chiral-Selective Protection of Single-walled Carbon Nanotube Photoluminescence by Surfactant Selection ^†

Journal Article · Thu Oct 18 00:00:00 EDT 2007 · Journal of Physical Chemistry. C

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/jp071410d· OSTI ID:1345487

McDonald, Timothy J. ^[1]; Blackburn, Jeffrey L. ^[2]; Metzger, Wyatt K. ^[2]; Rumbles, Garry ^[2]; Heben, Michael J. ^[2]

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1. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States). Dept. of Applied Physics
2. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

We study the effects of adding H₂O₂ to acid-purified and unpurified single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) in aqueous suspensions using photoluminescence (PL) and optical absorption spectroscopies. The addition of H₂O₂ to suspensions of unpurified SWNTs results in a rapid (1$$-$$2 h) quenching of the photoluminescence from all tubes, whereas H₂O₂ addition to acid-purified SWNTs causes the nanotube PL to grow in intensity over a period of several days before decaying in a tube-specific manner that depends on the binding strength of the surfactant sheath. With the appropriate choice of surfactants, the PL for specific acid-purified SWNTs can be protected such that novel mid-gap and phonon-assisted absorption and emission transitions can be observed without the obscuring effects associated with emission from other nanotubes. The H2O2 treatment also results in a reduction of the high-energy absorption background that has been associated with either carbonaceous impurities or the SWNT π-plasmon oscillation. An understanding of the related mechanisms leads to a new method for separating nanotubes by type based on selective oxidation followed by selective precipitation. These findings offer the possibility of efficiently separating large quantities of nanotubes by chirality.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Solar Photochemistry Program
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 1345487
• Report Number(s): NREL/JA-590-42929
• Journal Information: Journal of Physical Chemistry. C, Vol. 111, Issue 48; ISSN 1932-7447
• Publisher: American Chemical Society
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
photoluminescence
SWNT
absorption