Intensity Ratio of Resonant Raman Modes for (n,m) Enriched Semiconducting Carbon Nanotubes

ACS Nano. 2016 May 24;10(5):5252-9. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.6b01031. Epub 2016 May 9.

Abstract

Relative intensities of resonant Raman spectral features, specifically the radial breathing mode (RBM) and G modes, of 11, chirality-enriched, single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) species were established under second-order optical transition excitation. The results demonstrate an under-recognized complexity in the evaluation of Raman spectra for the assignment of (n,m) population distributions. Strong chiral angle and mod dependencies affect the intensity ratio of the RBM to G modes and can result in misleading interpretations. Furthermore, we report five additional (n,m) values for the chirality-dependent G(+) and G(-) Raman peak positions and intensity ratios; thereby extending the available data to cover more of the smaller diameter regime by including the (5,4) second-order, resonance Raman spectra. Together, the Raman spectral library is demonstrated to be sufficient for decoupling G peaks from multiple species via a spectral fitting process, and enables fundamental characterization even in mixed chiral population samples.

Keywords: Raman intensity ratio; aqueous two phase separation; chiral angle; resonance Raman; single-wall carbon nanotubes.