Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotubes as One‐Dimensional Template for CdS Nanoparticles Growth

Abstract

In the present work is demonstrated that single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are excellent one-dimensional (1D) structures for the growth and stabilization of CdS nanoparticles (CdS NPs) in dispersions. For this, we have synthesized colloidal CdS NPs owning different diameters (from 2 to 5.5 nm). Then, the surface modification of NPs by using nonylphenol as capping agent was evaluated. The modification of CdS NPs resulted in a crystal rearrangement for all the NP sizes to NPs of approximately 2 nm of diameter showing an enhanced photoluminescence signal at 415 nm. Following the same experimental procedure, CdS NPs directly grown on SWCNTs (CdSNPs@SWCNTs) show absorption and photoluminescence properties similar to those of already passivated NPs with nonylphenol, in consequence the addition of a better capping agent did not affect the optical properties of as-synthesized CdSNPs@SWCNTs. Our experimental results demonstrate that SWCNTs are excellent 1D templates for the growth and stabilization of CdS NPs allowing to combine the optical tunable properties of NPs with the outstanding electronic properties of SWCNTs. This facile low cost methodology provides a successful strategy for the development of applications in a large range of fields including heterogeneous catalysis, optoelectronic and photoelectronic devices.