LENGTH DEPENDENT PROPERTIES OF CARBON NANOTUBES: CHARACTERIZATION AND IMPLICATIONS
Dr. Jeffrey Fagan
Sponsor: Dr. Erik Hobbie
Polymers Division
Material Science and Engineering Laboratory
Building 224, Office A225
MS 8542
301-975-6740
Fax: 301-975-4942
Not a Sigma Xi member
Category: Materials
The intrinsic optical properties of single wall carbon nanotubes in solution are demonstrated to depend on the contour length of the nanotubes. Absorbance, fluorescence and Raman scattering measurements on individually-dispersed, length-sorted tubes display significant increases of these archetypical nanotube optical features with tube length. Surprisingly, these changes occur at a length scale much greater than that predicted by theoretical models and simulations. The demonstrated length dependence of these properties has extensive implications for the characterization and use of these materials, including purity evaluation, optimization of expected properties, and in the selection of nanotube populations for medical applications.