Exploration of self-assembled carbon nanomaterials through various dimensions

Abstract

The realm of the carbon nanomaterials (CNMs) runs extremely deep and spans many members: nanotubes (CNTs), graphene, buckminsterfullerenes, carbon dots, graphene oxide (GO), nanodiamond, nanoribbons, carbon fibre, nano-onions, peapods, nanobuds, and new members graphyne and fullertubes, with nanotubes, buckminsterfullerenes, and graphene being the most famous of CNM family. They have a plethora of applications ranging from bioimaging to display technology to sensors. In this thesis, we filled carbon nanotubes with fullerenes and metallofullerenes (Lu and Gd) and obtained visual confirmation of this via high resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy. Additionally, we obtained baseline Raman measurements. These filled carbon nanotubes, which are called peapods, were made dispersible in water via a reaction with potassium metal. Then, more measurements via AFM, STEM, Raman, UV-Vis, and others were to help understand and confirm the dispersibility of the peapods. As a wrap-up, we did magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to test the performance of the water dispersible Gd filled peapods and compared it to OmniscanTM. Here, it proved to have about 6x the contrast ability over OmniscanTM. Also, I functionalized C60 with complementary H-bonding ligands for self-assembly and attempted to covalently link C60 to the surface exfoliated graphite. Then, we move to a summary of fullerene formation, collaborative works involving XPS/STEM/EELS, and miscellaneous projects that did not pan out to wrap it all up.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical reference