• DOI:10.1126/SCIENCE.1072631
• Corpus ID: 22623119

Band Gap Fluorescence from Individual Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

@article{Oconnell2002BandGF,
  title={Band Gap Fluorescence from Individual Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes},
  author={Michael J O'connell and Sergei M. Bachilo and Chad B. Huffman and Valerie C. Moore and Michael S. Strano and Erik H. H{\'a}roz and Kristy L Rialon and Peter J. Boul and William H. Noon and Carter Kittrell and Jianpeng Ma and Robert H. Hauge and R. Bruce Weisman and Richard E. Smalley},
  journal={Science},
  year={2002},
  volume={297},
  pages={593 - 596}
}

• M. O'connell, S. Bachilo, +11 authors R. Smalley
• Published 26 July 2002
• Physics
• Science

Fluorescence has been observed directly across the band gap of semiconducting carbon nanotubes. We obtained individual nanotubes, each encased in a cylindrical micelle, by ultrasonically agitating an aqueous dispersion of raw single-walled carbon nanotubes in sodium dodecyl sulfate and then centrifuging to remove tube bundles, ropes, and residual catalyst. Aggregation of nanotubes into bundles otherwise quenches the fluorescence through interactions with metallic tubes and substantially broadens the absorption spectra. At pH less than 5, the absorption and emission spectra of individual nanotubes show evidence of band gap–selective protonation of the side walls of the tube. This protonation is readily reversed by treatment with base or ultraviolet light.