Skip to main content
Research Highlight | Center for Nanoscale Materials

Ultrafast exciton trapping in carbon nanotubes

In a study published in ACS Nano, researchers deepened their understanding of photodynamics. Their discoveries could inform design of brighter single photon sources for biological, quantum information and nanophotonic applications.

Scientific Achievement

In covalently doped single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), ultrafast trapping of excitons at defect sites outpaces exciton diffusion, producing localization of excitons and a brighter single photon source.

Significance and Impact

These findings reveal critical information for the design of bright near-infrared emitters that can be utilized in biological, quantum information, and nanophotonic applications.

Research Details

  • Conducted ultrafast pump-probe and Raman studies at the Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM).
  • Simulated the carrier dynamics of the system and fit the data to a kinetic model, revealing an upper limit in quantum defect density for obtaining highly luminescent SWCNTs without causing irreversible damage.

Work was performed, in part, at CNM.

DOI10.1021/acsnano.9b06279

Download this highlight

About Argonne’s Center for Nanoscale Materials
The Center for Nanoscale Materials is one of the five DOE Nanoscale Science Research Centers, premier national user facilities for interdisciplinary research at the nanoscale supported by the DOE Office of Science. Together the NSRCs comprise a suite of complementary facilities that provide researchers with state-of-the-art capabilities to fabricate, process, characterize and model nanoscale materials, and constitute the largest infrastructure investment of the National Nanotechnology Initiative. The NSRCs are located at DOE’s Argonne, Brookhaven, Lawrence Berkeley, Oak Ridge, Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories. For more information about the DOE NSRCs, please visit https://​sci​ence​.osti​.gov/​U​s​e​r​-​F​a​c​i​l​i​t​i​e​s​/​U​s​e​r​-​F​a​c​i​l​i​t​i​e​s​-​a​t​-​a​-​G​lance.

Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America’s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://​ener​gy​.gov/​s​c​ience.