Nano Express
Shell-Controlled Photoluminescence in CdSe/CNT Nanohybrids
State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, 730000, Lanzhou, China
Nanoscale Research Letters 2009, 4:1146-1152 doi:10.1007/s11671-009-9373-z
Published: 14 June 2009Abstract
A new type of nanohybrids containing carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and CdSe quantum dots (QDs) was prepared using an electrostatic self-assembly method. The CdSe QDs were capped by various mercaptocarboxylic acids, including thioglycolic acid (TGA), dihydrolipoic acid (DHLA) and mercaptoundecanoic acid (MUA), which provide shell thicknesses of ~5.2, 10.6 and 15.2 Å, respectively. The surface-modified CdSe QDs are then self-assembled onto aridine orange-modified CNTs via electrostatic interaction to give CdSe/CNT nanohybrids. The photoluminescence (PL) efficiencies of the obtained nanohybrids increase significantly with the increase of the shell thickness, which is attributed to a distance-dependent photo-induced charge-transfer mechanism. This work demonstrates a simple mean for fine tuning the PL properties of the CdSe/CNT nanohybrids and gains new insights to the photo-induced charge transfer in such nanostructures.
