Single Chirality Extraction
of Single-Wall Carbon
Nanotubes for the Encapsulation of Organic Molecules
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Abstract
The hollow inner spaces of single-wall carbon nanotubes
(SWCNTs)
can confine various types of molecules. Many remarkable phenomena
have been observed inside SWCNTs while encapsulating organic molecules
(peapods). However, a mixed electronic structure state of the surrounding
SWCNTs has impeded a detailed understanding of the physical/chemical
properties of peapods and their device applications. We present a
single-chirality purification method for SWCNTs that can encapsulate
organic molecules. A single-chiral state of (11,10) SWCNTs with a
diameter of 1.44 nm, which is large enough for molecular encapsulation,
was obtained after a two-step purification method: metal-semiconductor
sorting and cesium-chloride sorting. The encapsulation of C<sub>60</sub> to the (11,10) SWCNTs was also succeeded, promising a route toward
single-chirality peapod devices