(Invited) Ultrasonication-Induced Inner Shell Extraction from Double‐Wall Carbon Nanotubes: Characterisation By Ultracentrifugation and in Situ Raman and Fluorescence-Excitation Spectroscopy

Abstract

We show that ultrasonication extracts inner tubes from double-wall carbon nanotubes (DWCNT), and characterize the process by density gradient ultracentrifugation (DGU) combined with in situ spectroscopic characterization in the density gradient. Our observations also cast new light on the question whether or not the inner tubes of DWCNTs fluoresce, which has been the subject of a long-standing debate, even though single‐DWCNT experiments have already shown drastic PL‐quenching for the inner CNT [1]. Indeed, in previous studies to characterise the PL from DWCNTs, they were typically solubilised using sonication, while here we see that upon sonication, the extraction of the inner tubes from the DWCNTs leads to much more, efficiently fluorescing SWCNTs. First, the DWCNTs were purified from SWCNTs and bundles using density gradient ultracentrifugation (DGU). Then, sonication is applied, after which the extracted inner tubes were separated from the DWCNTs by DGU and characterised by in situ resonant Raman and PL‐spectroscopy as a function of height in the centrifuge tube [2]. These subsequent in situ DGU experiments unambiguously prove the extraction of inner SWCNTs from DWCNTs, even by very brief sonication, and sonication-time-dependent measurements show that the process quickly saturates. [1] D. Levshov, R. Parret, H.-N. Tran, T. Michel, T.T. Cao, V.C. Nguyen, R. Arenal, V.N. Popov, S.B. Rochal, J.-L. Sauvajol, A.-A. Zahab, M. Paillet, Phys. Rev. B 96, 195410 (2017). [2] S. Cambré, P. Muyshondt, R. Federicci, W. Wenseleers, Nanoscale 7, 20015 (2015).