Solvent Effect on Optical Limiting Properties of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Dispersions

Abstract

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) were dispersed in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF), and N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMA), respectively. The nonlinear optical properties of SWNT dispersions were studied using the open aperture Z-scan technique at 532 nm. The nonlinear extinction coefficients strongly increase with increasing SWNT concentration. In the three dispersions, the DMF dispersions show the strongest nonlinear extinction effect. In conjunction with this, the optical limiting performance is also superior for the DMF dispersions. Compared with DMF and DMA, NMP has a much better debundling effect for SWNTs; however, the optical limiting properties of the NMP dispersions is inferior. The SWNT dispersions seem to attenuate the intense light more effectively, as is shown by the stronger optical limiting response compared to the zinc phthalocyanine solution, at the same concentration. The static light scattering experiment revealed that the DMF dispersions have the largest avera...