Single Nanotube Spectral Imaging To Determine Molar Concentrations of Isolated Carbon Nanotube Species

Anal Chem. 2017 Jan 17;89(2):1073-1077. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.6b04091. Epub 2017 Jan 4.

Abstract

Electronic and biological applications of carbon nanotubes can be highly dependent on the species (chirality) of nanotube, purity, and concentration. Existing bulk methods, such as absorbance spectroscopy, can quantify sp2 carbon based on spectral bands, but nanotube length distribution, defects, and carbonaceous impurities can complicate quantification of individual particles. We present a general method to relate the optical density of a photoluminescent nanotube sample to the number of individual nanotubes. By acquiring 3-dimensional images of nanotubes embedded in a gel matrix with a reducing environment, we quantified all emissive nanotubes in a volume. Via spectral imaging, we assessed structural impurities and precisely determined molar concentrations of the (8,6) and (9,4) nanotube species. We developed an approach to obtain the molarity of any structurally enriched semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotube preparation on a per-nanotube basis.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • DNA, Single-Stranded / analysis
  • Gels / chemistry
  • Immobilized Nucleic Acids / analysis
  • Microscopy, Fluorescence / methods
  • Nanotechnology / methods*
  • Nanotubes, Carbon / analysis*
  • Nanotubes, Carbon / ultrastructure
  • Optical Imaging / methods*
  • Oxidation-Reduction
  • Semiconductors
  • Sepharose / chemistry
  • Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared / methods

Substances

  • DNA, Single-Stranded
  • Gels
  • Immobilized Nucleic Acids
  • Nanotubes, Carbon
  • Sepharose