No abstract

The optical properties of four different silicon nanowire structures were investigated. Two of the samples consisted of spheres of nanocrystalline silicon en-capsulated by silicon oxide nanowires, with other two consisting of crystalline silicon nanowires coated by silicon oxide shells. The nanostructures produced by oxide assisted growth consisted of spheres of crystalline silicon encapsulated by silicon oxide shells. The absorption and photoluminescence of the different structures of the sample are investigated. The emitting species responsible for photoluminescence across the visible spectrum are discussed.

The importance of molecular conformation to the nature and strength of noncovalent interactions existing between a series of increasingly nonplanar tetraphenylporphyrin (TPP) derivatives and carbon nanotubes was systematically investigated experimentally in solution using a range of linear and nonlinear optical techniques. Additional complementary molecular dynamics studies were found to support the experimental observations. Convincing evidence of binding between single walled nanotubes (SWNTs) and some of these porphyrins was discovered, and a nonplanar macrocycle conformation was found to increase the likelihood of noncovalent binding onto nanotubes. Nonlinear optical studies showed that the optical limiting behavior of the TPP derivatives deteriorated with increasing porphyrin nonplanarity, but that formation of nanotube composites dramatically improved the optical limiting properties of all molecules studied. It was also found that the significant photoluminescence quenching behavior reported in the literature for such porphyrin/SWNT composites is at least partly caused by photoluminescence and excitation self-absorption and is, therefore, an artifact of the system.