CAREER: Rational Synthesis and Studies of Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes

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This project, based on previous studies resulting in an ozonolysis protocol that purifies single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) by removing amorphous carbon and metal impurities and provides a new means for generalizing traditional chemistry to SWNT sidewalls and surfaces, will explore further the properties of the resultant ozonized tubes. Because ozonolysis is expected to introduce holes into the sidewalls of SWNTs, this project aims to perform (i) spectroscopic verification of electronic structure and bonding in these materials and (ii) adsorption measurements to analyze the extent of porosity. The main goal is to demonstrate that chemical manipulation (i.e. ozonolysis) can affect nanoscale properties in a favorable, controllable manner. To further illustrate the versatility of these ozonized tubes, the expected abundance of oxygenated groups on the nanotube surface will be used to seed the formation of quantum dots so as to create novel hierarchical assemblies. Graduate, undergraduate, and high-school students will participate in all aspects of this research and in so doing, will take advantage of the unique resources also available at facilities available through the Brookhaven National Laboratory. Moreover, students will have the opportunity to present their research at an annual interdisciplinary Stony Brook-BNL nanoscience symposium. This arrangement truly widens their educational and career possibilities.%%%Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are thought to have a host of wide-ranging, potential economic applications including as catalyst supports, field emitters, high strength fibers, sensors, actuators, gas storage media, and as molecular wires for the next generation of electronics devices. Understanding the chemistry of SWNTs is critical to rational and favorable manipulation of their properties. It has been shown that SWNTs in the presence of ozone result in a product that is not only very pure, but also hypothesized to contain holes in its sidewalls, important for gas storage applications. Furthermore, synthesized ozonized SWNT- nanocrystal based heterostructures may be critical for devising molecular scale computing devices. From a teaching perspective, the PI will emphasize unique interdisciplinary nanoscience research opportunities at Brookhaven National Laboratory to Stony Brook undergraduate and graduate students as well as to high school students, especially from underrepresented groups, through a mixture of laboratory tours, talks, courses, and workshops. The multifaceted strategy proposed will generate highly-trained interdisciplinary students, ready to make significant technical and socially beneficial contributions.***