Selective interaction between nanotubes and perylene‐based surfactant

Abstract

AbstractWe recently reported a significant deviation in the photoluminescence intensities of HiPco nanotubes solubilized with a perylene‐based surfactant, C16, compared to bile salt surfactants. For C16, the photoluminescence emission of chiralities (9,5), (10,3), and (11,1) is enhanced by up to 430%. Resonant Raman spectroscopy is less sensitive to bundling state and also yields disparate chirality intensity ratios: The (11,0) zigzag tube signal increases by 100% compared to (8,6), (9,4), and (10,2) after suspension with C16. We also report the change in photoluminescence intensity distribution after the swelling of bile salt suspended nanotubes with a series of small organic chromophores in DCM. These changes are attributed to chromophore‐induced surfactant reorganization, resulting in better nanotube individualization. The chirality for which the PL intensity is most enhanced is (11,1) for all chromophores, a chirality also increased by 300% in the C16‐solubilized sample. Conjointly, these measurements indicate that both preferential solubilization and enhanced debundling contribute to the PL intensity distribution in the C16‐solubilized nanotube sample. This has wide ranging implications for the design of chirally selective surfactants and the demonstration of their selectivity, which is typically only shown through luminescence measurements. (© 2013 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)