A sensing mechanism for the detection of carbon nanotubes using selective photoluminescent probes based on ionic complexes with organic dyes

摘要

Using photoluminescent probes, researchers have devised a sensitive and selective way of detecting carbon nanotubes. Carbon nanotubes are being produced in ever increasing amounts — currently in excess of thousands of metric tons per year — but there is some evidence that they may be toxic, making it important to develop a sensitive means for detecting them in the environment. Now, Alex Rozhin team at Aston University in the UK and collaborators have developed an efficient method for detecting carbon nanotubes that involves amplifying their photoluminescent signal through the formation of organic complexes with tailorable polymethine dyes. They discovered that the photoluminescent excitation of this dye is transferred to nanotubes, strongly amplifying light emission by up to six times. Furthermore, this amplification is sensitive to both nanotube chirality and the surfactant that the nanotubes are dispersed in.