Carbon Nanotubes: theory

and applications

Yijing Fu1, Qing Yu2

1 Institute of Optics, University of Rochester
2 Department of ECE, University of Rochester

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Outline

 Definition
 Theory and properties
 Ultrafast optical spectroscopy
 Applications
 Future

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Definition:
Carbon Nanotube and Carbon fiber
 The history of carbon fiber goes way back…

 The history of carbon nanotube starts from

1991

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Carbon nanotube

CNT: Rolling-up a graphene sheet to form a tube

Schematic STM image

of a CNT of CNT

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Carbon nanotube

Properties depending on how it is rolled up.

a1, a2 are the graphene vectors.

OB/AB’ overlaps after rolling up.
OA is the rolling up vector.
OA  na1  ma2

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Carbon nanotube properties: Electronic

Electronic band structure is determined by symmetry:

 n=m: Metal
 n-m=3j (j non-zero integer): Tiny band-gap semiconductor
 Else: Large band-gap semiconductor.

Band-gap is determined by the diameter of the tube:

 For tiny band-gap tube: Eg  1 / R 2
 For large band-gap tube: Eg  1 / R

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Carbon nanotube : band structure

Band structure
of 2D graphite

(7,7) (7,0)

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Carbon nanotube: Density of state

 1D confined system DOS should give spikes

• Experimental results do show some

spikes
• Also there are some deviations,
further study is needed to explain this.

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Carbon nanotube properties: Mechanical

 Carbon-carbon bonds are one of the strongest bond

in nature
 Carbon nanotube is composed of perfect
arrangement of these bonds
 Extremely high Young’s modulus
Material Young’s modulus (GPa)
Steel 190-210
SWNT 1,000+
Diamond 1,050-1,200

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Ultrafast Optical spectroscopy of CNT

 Pump-probe experiment is used

 Provides understanding of CNT linear and
nonlinear optical properties
 Time-domain measurement provides lifetime
measurement
 1-D confined exciton can be studied

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Auger recombination of excitons
 Theoretical results show strong bound excitons in
semiconducting CNTs with binding energy up to 1eV
 Auger recombination : Nonradiative recombination of
excitons

 Auger rates is enhanced in reduced dimension materials

compared to bulk materials

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Experimental results

 Quantized auger recombination in quantum-confined system is

shown here
 Τ2 , Τ3 ~ 4ps, very fast loss of exciton due to auger recombination.
Therefore, optical performance of CNT is severely limited.

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Confined exciton effect: blue shift

 Exciton energy levels are stable when bohr

radius is smaller than the exciton-exciton
distance
 At intense laser excitation, many-body effects
renormalize the exciton energy levels
 Due to fast auger recombination, exciton
energy level shift is only observed in very
short time scale

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Confine exciton effect: experiment

 At zero time-delay, the absorption spectrum for

pumping wavelength of 1250nm and 1323nm are
shown as

At low pumping level, this effect disappears. Thus

many-body effect is proposed to explain this exciton
blue-shift.
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Applications
 Electrical
1. Field emission in vacuum electronics
2. Building block for next generation of VLSI
3. Nano lithography
 Energy storage
1. Lithium batteries
2. Hydrogen storage
 Biological
1. Bio-sensors
2. Functional AFM tips
3. DNA sequencing

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Biological applications: Bio-sensing

 Many spherical nano-particles have been

fabricated for biological applications.
 Nanotubes offer some advantages relative
to nanoparticles by the following aspects:
1. Larger inner volumes – can be filled with chemical or
biological species.
2. Open mouths of nanotubes make the inner surface
accessible.
3. Distinct inner and outer surface can be modified
separately.

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Biological applications: AFM tips

Carbon nanotubes as AFM probe tips:

1. Small diameter – maximum resolution
2. Excellent chemical and mechanical robustness
3. High aspect ratio

Resolution of ~ 12nm is achieved

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Biological applications:
Functional AFM tips
Molecular-recognition AFM probe tips:
 Certain bimolecular is attached to the CNT tip
 This tip is used to study the chemical forces between
molecules – Chemical force microscopy

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Biological applications: DNA
sequencing
 Nanotube fits into the
major grove of the DNA
strand
 Apply bias voltage
across CNT, different
DNA base-pairs give
rise to different current
signals
 With multiple CNT, it is Top view and side view of the
possible to do parallel assembled CNT-DNA system
fast DNA sequencing

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 Challenges and future

 Future applications:
1. Already in product: CNT tipped AFM
2. Big hit: CNT field effect transistors based nano electronics.
3. Futuristic: CNT based OLED, artificial muscles…

 Challenges
1. Manufacture: Important parameters are hard to control.
2. Large quantity fabrication process still missing.
3. Manipulation of nanotubes.

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