Comparative study of the interaction of different polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on different types of single-walled carbon nanotubes

A comparative study of the solubilizing effect of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) produced by the high-pressure decomposition of carbon monoxide (HiPco) and the arc discharge (AD) method has been carried out with the aid of fluorescence and Raman spectroscopy. For this study, polyphenyl and polyacene PAHs of different lengths are used. From the study it has been found that the binding energy of PAHs with AD SWCNTs is the same as that with HiPco SWCNTs. Shorter PAHs molecules better solubilize SWCNTs and in general smaller-diameter SWCNTs. Thus, given their smaller-diameter profile, significantly larger numbers of HiPco SWCNTs are solubilized compared to the number of AD SWCNTs.