Optical Analysis and Imaging of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

在化学系化学测量和成像计划的支持下，莱斯大学的R.Bruce Weisman教授和他的团队正在设计更好地表征单壁碳纳米管的方法，这是纳米技术研究中最有前途的新材料之一。这些由化学键合的碳原子组成的分子长管具有显著的物理性能，有望在高性能材料、纳米电子、太阳能收集以及医疗诊断和治疗等领域取得进展。实现这些应用的一个障碍往往是不同的纳米管结构的分类-每个结构具有不同的性质-这些结构是由纳米管合成产生的。该项目正在开发和增强使用近红外光的方便和无损的光学纳米管分析方法。正在开发新的仪器以提高分析的速度和有效性，并改善按结构对纳米管混合物进行物理分类的能力。这项工作应该能够使按照长度对纳米管样品进行分类的工作取得进展，这是许多应用程序的一个重要目标。该项目为许多本科生和研究生提供了宝贵的研究经验。开发和改进的分析方法很可能会被纳入商业科学仪器中。更广泛地说，该项目的技术成果还将有助于克服目前阻碍基于纳米管的设备和产品商业化生产的一些障碍。由于纳米管应用的巨大潜在价值，这可能会对美国经济产生积极影响。

With support from the Chemical Measurement and Imaging Program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor R. Bruce Weisman and his group at Rice University are devising methods to better characterize single-walled carbon nanotubes, which are among the most promising new materials emerging from nanotechnology research. These long molecular-sized tubes of chemically bonded carbon atoms display remarkable physical properties which promise advances in fields including high performance materials, nano-scale electronics, solar energy harvesting, and medical diagnostics and therapy. A barrier to realizing these applications is often the assortment of different nanotube structures - each with different properties - which result from nanotube synthesis. This project is developing and enhancing convenient and nondestructive optical nanotube analysis methods using near-infrared light. Novel instrumentation is being developed to enhance the speed and effectiveness of analysis, and to improve capabilities for physically sorting nanotube mixtures by structure. This work should enable progress in sorting nanotube samples according to length, an important goal for many applications.The project provides valuable research experience to a number of undergraduate and graduate students. The analysis methods developed and refined will likely be incorporated into commercial scientific instruments. More broadly, the technical results of the project will also help overcome some of the obstacles that now hamper commercial production of nanotube-based devices and products. This may have a positive effect on the U.S. economy because of the substantial potential value of nanotube applications.