Effect of oxygen chemisorption on the energy band gap of a chiral semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotube

Nano-Charged Polypropylene Application: Realistic Perspectives for Enhancing Durability

Isotactic polypropylene/multi-walled carbon nanotube (iPP/MWCNTs) films have been exposed to accelerated weathering in a UV device for increasing times. The effect of UV irradiation on the structural and chemical changes has been investigated. The resistance to accelerated photooxidation of (iPP/MWCNTs) films has been compared to the photooxidation behaviour of unfilled polypropylene films with the same structural organization. The chemical and structural modifications resulting from photooxidation have been followed using infrared spectroscopy, calorimetric and diffractometric analysis. MWCNTs embedded in the polymeric matrix are able to strongly contrast the degradation mechanisms and the structural and morphological rearrangements caused by the UV treatment on the unfilled polymer. MWCNTs determine an induction period (IP) before the increase of the carbonyl and hydroxyl groups. The extent of the IP is strictly correlated to the amount of MWCNTs. The low electrical percolation threshold (EPT) and the electrical conductivity of the nanocomposites, together with their excellent thermal and photooxidative stability, make them promising candidates to fulfill many industrial requirements.

Characterizing and Understanding Divalent Adsorbates on Carbon Nanotubes with Ab Initio and Classical Approaches: Size, Chirality, and Coverage Effects

The study of oxygen chemisorption on single-walled carbon nanotubes generally relies on simple atomistic models and hence hampers the possibility to understand whether nanotube size or adduct concentration have a role in determining the surface-adsorbate interaction. Our large-scale DFT-based simulations show that structural and electronic properties as well as diffusion barriers strongly depend on both nanotube diameter and adsorbate concentration. Our atomistic models cover nanotube of different chirality with diameters from 0.6 to 1.5 nm and oxygen concentration from 0.1 to 1%. In particular, the tendency to cluster increases with concentration and stabilizes ether (ET) groups but affects hopping barriers only to a minor extent. Significant differences with graphene are found, also for 1.5 nm diameter nanotubes. Extension to species isoelectronic to oxygen reveals dissimilarities, and especially for sulfur that tends to form epoxides (EP), to diffuse more easily and to rapidly close the energy gap for increasing concentration. The relative ET-EP stability can be described in terms of the bare-bond curvature, a concentration-dependent chemical descriptor here introduced. Comparison of these DFT calculations-using different exchange-correlation functionals-and our additional investigation with a reactive force-field (ReaxFF) clarifies several similarities but also discrepancies between the predictions of the two schemes.

Finite-length models of carbon nanotubes based on Clar sextet theory

Finite-length models of metallic and semiconducting carbon nanotubes (CNTs) based on Clar sextet theory of aromatic systems are proposed. For metallic CNTs, the electronic properties of finite-length models converge monotonically to the values expected for quasi-monodimensional metallic systems. For semiconducting CNTs, the use of finite-length models as proposed in this work leads to a fast convergence of the electronic properties to the values expected for the corresponding infinite-length nanotube.

Theoretical study of the electronic properties of narrow single-walled carbon nanotubes: beyond the local density approximation

In this work we present a systematic density functional theory study of the electronic properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) with diameters ranging from 3 to 5 A. In this work meta-generalized-gradient approximation, hybrid, and screened exchange hybrid functionals are utilized to compute energy band gaps in these narrow SWNT. Our calculations using hybrid functionals show that the only true exceptions to the zone folding predictions are the (4,0) and (5,0) SWNT. The remaining chiral SWNT are semiconducting with band gaps that can be as large as 1.7 eV. However, the calculated energy band gaps are significantly smaller than those predicted by the zone folding scheme. This difference is primarily attributed to the sigma-pi hybridization present in such narrow SWNT.

Large-scale separation of metallic and semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes

In the applications of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), it is extremely important to separate semiconducting and metallic SWNTs. Although several methods have been reported for the separation, only low yields have been achieved at great expense. We show a separation method involving a dispersion-centrifugation process in a tetrahydrofuran solution of amine, which makes metallic SWNTs highly concentrated to 87% in a simple way.

Doping of Polyaniline by Acid−Base Chemistry: Density Functional Calculations with Periodic Boundary Conditions

Calculations with Gaussian orbitals and periodic boundary conditions using several density functionals are carried out to study the proton-doping of polyaniline. We explore previously proposed mechanisms to explain the spectacular increase of the electrical conductivity of polyaniline upon protonation. The structural and spectroscopic theoretical predictions for both polaron and bipolaron lattices agree quite well with the experimental data, and we find that the bipolaron structure is lower in energy.

Controlled switching of optical emission energies in semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes

We present scanning photoluminescence (PL) microscopy of freely suspended single-walled carbon nanotubes grown by chemically assisted vapor deposition (CVD) across micron-sized open apertures. Scans of the PL emission versus excitation position show unusual "holes"having subwavelength spatial features associated with abrupt blue shifts of the emission energy. By varying the excitation polarization, energy, intensity, and position, we demonstrate that optical switching in some nanotubes is controllable in a highly nonlinear manner by adjusting the nonequilibrium carrier density in the nanotube. Technologically important attributes include large spectral contrast between on/off states at room temperature, a dramatic response to small changes in light intensity near threshold, and the possibility that electrical charge injection could also be used to control emission energies.