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Electronic Interactions between “Pea” and “Pod”: The Case of Oligothiophenes Encapsulated in Carbon Nanotubes
Author(s) -
Gao Jia,
Blondeau Pascal,
Salice Patrizio,
Menna Enzo,
Bártová Barbora,
Hébert Cécile,
Leschner Jens,
Kaiser Ute,
Milko Matus,
AmbroschDraxl Claudia,
Loi Maria Antonietta
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.201100319
Subject(s) - carbon nanotube , materials science , raman spectroscopy , van der waals force , photoluminescence , molecule , nanotechnology , nanophotonics , density functional theory , spectroscopy , chemical physics , optoelectronics , computational chemistry , optics , chemistry , physics , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics
One of the most challenging strategies to achieve tunable nanophotonic devices is to build robust nanohybrids with variable emission in the visible spectral range, while keeping the merits of pristine single‐walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). This goal is realized by filling SWNTs (“pods”) with a series of oligothiophene molecules (“peas”). The physical properties of these peapods are depicted by using aberration‐corrected high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and other optical methods including steady‐state and time‐resolved measurements. Visible photoluminescence with quantum yields up to 30% is observed for all the hybrids. The underlying electronic structure is investigated by density functional theory calculations for a series of peapods with different molecular lengths and tube diameters, which demonstrate that van der Waals interactions are the bonding mechanism between the encapsulated molecule and the tube.