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Photoluminescence imaging of electronic-impurity-induced exciton quenching in single-walled carbon nanotubes

Nature Nanotechnology volume 7, pages 126–132 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

The electronic properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes can be altered by surface adsorption of electronic impurities or dopants. However, fully understanding the influence of these impurities is difficult because of the inherent complexity of the solution-based colloidal chemistry of nanotubes, and because of a lack of techniques for directly imaging dynamic processes involving these impurities. Here, we show that photoluminescence microscopy can be used to image exciton quenching in semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes during the early stages of chemical doping with two different species. The addition of AuCl3 leads to localized exciton-quenching sites, which are attributed to a mid-gap electronic impurity level, and the adsorbed species are also found sometimes to be mobile on the surface of the nanotubes. The addition of H2O2 leads to delocalized exciton-quenching hole states, which are responsible for long-range photoluminescence blinking, and are also mobile.

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Figure 1: Electronic impurities in single-walled carbon nanotubes.
Figure 2: Localized electronic impurity.
Figure 3: Delocalized electronic impurity.
Figure 4: Long-range quenching.
Figure 5: Delocalized electronic impurity mobility.
Figure 6: Localized electronic impurity mobility.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge J.J. Han for technical support with the imaging experiment, J.D. Sau for stimulating theoretical discussions, and N.H. Mack for electron microscopy support. This work was performed at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, a US Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences user facility. Los Alamos National Laboratory is operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, for the National Nuclear Security Administration of the US Department of Energy (contract no. DE-AC52-06NA25396).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, USA

    Jared J. Crochet, Juan G. Duque, James H. Werner & Stephen K. Doorn

  2. Physical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy, Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, USA

    Jared J. Crochet & Juan G. Duque

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Contributions

J.J.C. designed the experiment, performed optical measurements, prepared samples, and analysed and modelled the data. J.G.D. provided technical assistance with sample preparation. J.H.W. and S.K.D. supervised the project. All authors contributed to the preparation of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Stephen K. Doorn.

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Crochet, J., Duque, J., Werner, J. et al. Photoluminescence imaging of electronic-impurity-induced exciton quenching in single-walled carbon nanotubes. Nature Nanotech 7, 126–132 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2011.227

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