Manipulating single-wall carbon nanotubes by chemical doping and charge transfer with perylene dyes

Abstract

Single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are emerging as materials with much potential in several disciplines, in particular in electronics and photovoltaics. The combination of SWNTs with electron donors or acceptors generates active materials, which can produce electrical energy when irradiated. However, SWNTs are very elusive species when characterization of their metastable states is required. This problem mainly arises because of the polydispersive nature of SWNT samples and the inevitable presence of SWNTs in bundles of different sizes. Here, we report the complete and thorough characterization of an SWNT radical ion-pair state induced by complexation with a perylene dye, which combines excellent electron-accepting and -conducting features with a five-fused ring π-system. At the same time, the perylene dye enables the dispersion of SWNTs by means of π-π interactions, which gives individual SWNTs in solution. This work clears a path towards electronic and optoelectronic devices in which regulated electrical transport properties are important.

Assembly of carbon nanotubes and alkylated fullerenes: nanocarbon hybrid towards photovoltaic applications

“…As revealed in Fig. 1b, the well-resolved absorption peaks in the UV-vis-NIR spectrum of 1-SWCNT in THF suggest the presence of SWCNTs with small bundles 8,9 and the preservation of the intrinsic electronic structure of the SWCNTs after the assembly with 1. The unbundling of SWCNTs was also supported by the high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) analysis (Fig.…”

“…For comparison, we also measured the PLE spectrum of the SWCNTs in SDS aqueous solution (Fig. 6c), where chiral indices of (9,4), (7,6), (8,4), (10,2), (7,5), (8,3), (9,2), (6,5) and (10,3) were observed. 46 The emission from 1-SWCNT solution is relatively weaker than that of SWCNT-SDS.…”

Quantum efficiency of energy transfer in noncovalent carbon nanotube/porphyrin compounds

“…All these measurements consistently lead to an exceptional quantum yield efficiency: 1-10 −3 ≤ η ≤ 1-10 −5 . * Electronic address: lauret@lpqm.ens-cachan.fr Functionalization of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) is a rapidly developing field in view of applications such as biology imaging [1] or optoelectronics [2][3][4]. In particular, the coupling of dye molecules with nanotubes is of great interest regarding possible photovoltaïc and other optoelectronic applications [2,3,5].…”

Electronic and transport properties of boron and nitrogen doped graphene nanoribbons: an ab initio approach

“…The electronic transport properties of carbon nanostructures can be controlled through substitutional doping (Jianwei et al 2007). Nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have great possibilities for electronic applications by manipulating the electronic properties of semiconducting single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) (Ehli et al 2009). Doping GNRs with boron atoms can also lead to the metal to semiconductor transition and break the polarized transport degeneracy (Martins and Miwa 2007).…”