Opto-electronic properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes can be significantly modified by chromophore confinement into their hollow core. For instance, charge transfers are evidenced from Raman data analysis. First, by exciting nanotubes far from the optical absorption of the molecule, the Raman G-band signal exhibits a weak but significant up or downshift depending on the nanotube diameters. This behavior is consistent with a permanent electron transfer to the nanotube in the framework of the renormalization process 1. In addition, close to the molecule resonance, the magnitude of the G-band shift is enhanced for small diameter tubes, evidencing a photo-induced electron transfer. Finally, the Breit-Wigner-Fano lineshape (characteristic of electron-phonon coupling) of the Raman G-band can be strongly reduced for defective metallic nanotubes. After molecule functionalization, this peculiar profile is recovered, suggesting a back donation of electrons to the nanotube. Photoluminescence properties of semiconducting nanotubes are also significantly modified by chromophore confinement. The nanotube emission intensity is amplified after encapsulation. This exaltation depends on the nanotube diameter, and can be related to diameters exactly fitting the molecule size. The origin of the photoluminescence enhancement will be discussed.

Binary c–T phase diagrams of organogelators in solvent are frequently simplified to two domains, gel and sol, even when the melting temperatures display two distinct regimes, an increase with T and a plateau. Herein, the c–T phase diagram of an organogelator in solvent is elucidated by rheology, DSC, optical microscopy, and transmitted light intensity measurements. We evidence a miscibility gap between the organogelator and the solvent above a threshold concentration, cL. In this domain the melting or the formation of the gel becomes a monotectic transformation, which explains why the corresponding temperatures are nonvariant above cL. As shown by further studies by variable temperature FTIR and NMR, different types of H-bonds drive both the liquid–liquid phase separation and the gelation.

Thermo-mechanically durable industrial polymer nanocomposites have great demand as structural components. In this work, highly competent filler design is processed via nano-modified of micronic SiO2/Al2O3 particulate ceramics and studied its influence on the rheology, glass transition temperature, composite microstructure, thermal conductivity, mechanical strength, micro hardness, and tribology properties. Composites were fabricated with different proportions of nano-modified micro-composite fillers in epoxy matrix at as much possible filler loadings. Results revealed that nano-modified SiO2/Al2O3 micro-composite fillers enhanced inter-particle network and offer benefits like homogeneous microstructures and increased thermal conductivity. Epoxy composites attained thermal conductivity of 0.8 W/mK at 46% filler loading. Mechanical strength and bulk hardness were reached to higher values on the incorporation of nano-modified fillers. Tribology study revealed an increased specific wear rate and decreased friction coefficient in such fillers. The study is significant in a way that the design of nano-modified mixed-matrix micro-composite fillers are effective where a high loading is much easier, which is critical for achieving desired thermal and mechanical properties for any engineering applications. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Wet acid oxidation treatment methods have been widely reported as an effective method to purify and oxidize the surface of industrial multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT). This work examines the use of a concentrated HNO3/H2SO4 mixture in an attempt to optimize the purification procedure of industrial MWCNT with diameter distribution statistics. It is shown that acid treatments of several hours are enough to purify the nanotubes. The electrical and thermal conductivities of epoxy composites containing 0.05-0.25 wt. % of acid-treated MWCNT has been studied. The electrical conductivity of the composites decreases by more than three orders, whereas the thermal conductivity of the same specimen increases very modestly as a function of the filler content.

Semiconducting carbon nanotubes are an emerging material for photonics. We report on the enhancement of semiconducting carbon nanotubes photoluminescence with silicon microring resonators. Polyfluorene extracted semiconducting carbon nanotubes, deposited on such resonators, display sharp emission peaks superposed to nanotube emission, which is attributed to the interaction with the cavity modes of the microring resonators. Ring resonators with radii of 5 and 10  μm were used, to demonstrate the tuning of the spectral distance between two successive emission resonances. Quality factors ranged between 3000 and 4000 in emission. These are among the highest values reported so far for carbon nanotubes coupled with optical microcavity on the silicon platform, highlighting the bright perspectives for carbon nanotube photonics.

Photo-active pi-conjugated molecules (quaterthiophene and phthalocyanine) are either encapsulated into the hollow core of single-walled carbon nanotubes or non-covalently stacked at their outer surface in order to elaborate hybrid nano-systems with new physical properties, providing practical routes to fit different requirements for potential applications. In this study, we are interested in the relationship between the structure and the opto-electronic properties. The structural properties are investigated mainly by x-ray diffraction and/or Transmission Electron Microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. We evidence that the supramolecular organizations of confined quaterthiophenes depend on the nanocontainer size whereas phthalocyanine encapsulation leads the formation of a 1D-phase for which the angle between the molecule ring and the nanotube axis is close to 32°. Confined phthalocyanine molecules display Raman spectra hardly altered with respect to the bulk phase, suggesting a rather weak interaction with the tubes. In contrast, the vibrational properties of the molecules stacked at the outer surface of tubes display important modifications. We assume a significant curvature of the phthalocyanine induced by the interaction with the tube walls and a change of the central atom position within the molecular ring, in good agreement with our DFT calculations.