Kinetics of PL Quenching During Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Rebundling and Diameter-Dependent Surfactant Interactions

Timothy J. McDonald, Chaiwat Engtrakul, Marcus Jones, Garry Rumbles, Michael J. Heben

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

129 Scopus Citations

Abstract

The kinetics of single-walled carbon nanotube rebundling have been investigated by photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The rate of loss of PL intensity was measured for 12 different nanotubes in three common aqueous surfactants (sodium dodecyl sulfate, SDS; sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate, SDBS;.and sodium cholate, SC) as the surfactant suspensions were diluted to promote nanotube rebundling, quenching of semiconductor nanotube PL, and precipitation. The rate of PL decay was first-order in the concentration of isolated nanotubes, as expected if surfactant desorption is rate-limiting in the rebundling process. Temperature-dependent measurements permitted an Arrhenius analysis from which diameter-dependent activation energies were determined. SDS was found to have very strong diameter dependence for activation energy, with stronger binding to smaller-diameter nanotubes, whereas SDBS displayed a weaker diameter dependence. SC was found to bind strongly to certain nanotubes and weakly to the (10,2) nanotube. The PL emission red shifted with time after dilution as surfactant desorption proceeded. This effect is attributed to an increase in the micropolarity at the nanotube surface.

Original languageAmerican English
Pages (from-to)25339-25346
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Physical Chemistry B
Volume110
Issue number50
DOIs
StatePublished - 2006

NREL Publication Number

  • NREL/JA-590-40491

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