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

Petro Lutsyk, Raz Arif, Jan Hruby, Anatolii Bukivskyi, Olexander Vinijchuk, Mykola Shandura, Viktor Yakubovskyi, Yuri Kovtun, Graham Rance, Michael Fay, Yuri Piryatinski, Oleksiy Kachkovsky, Anatoli Verbitsky, Aleksey Rozhin*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The multifunctional properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) make them a powerful platform for unprecedented innovations in a variety of practical applications. As a result of the surging growth of nanotechnology, nanotubes present a potential problem as an environmental pollutant, and as such, an efficient method for their rapid detection must be established. Here, we propose a novel type of ionic sensor complex for detecting CNTs – an organic dye that responds sensitively and selectively to CNTs with a photoluminescent signal. The complexes are formed through Coulomb attractions between dye molecules with uncompensated charges and CNTs covered with an ionic surfactant in water. We demonstrate that the photoluminescent excitation of the dye can be transferred to the nanotubes, resulting in selective and strong amplification (up to a factor of 6) of the light emission from the excitonic levels of CNTs in the near-infrared spectral range, as experimentally observed via excitation-emission photoluminescence (PL) mapping. The chirality of the nanotubes and the type of ionic surfactant used to disperse the nanotubes both strongly affect the amplification; thus, the complexation provides sensing selectivity towards specific CNTs. Additionally, neither similar uncharged dyes nor CNTs covered with neutral surfactant form such complexes. As model organic molecules, we use a family of polymethine dyes with an easily tailorable molecular structure and, consequently, tunable absorbance and PL characteristics. This provides us with a versatile tool for the controllable photonic and electronic engineering of an efficient probe for CNT detection.
Original languageEnglish
Article numbere16028
Number of pages9
JournalLight
Volume5
Issue numberFebruary
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 12 Feb 2016

Bibliographical note

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 Unported License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0

Supplementary information accompanies the manuscript on the Light: Science & Applications website (http://www.nature.com/lsa/journal/v5/n2/full/lsa201628a.html/)

Keywords

  • carbon nanotubes
  • ionic surfactant
  • organic dye
  • photoluminescence sensor

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