Raman excitation spectroscopy of carbon nanotubes: effects of pressure medium and pressure

Abstract

Raman excitation and emission spectra for the radial breathing mode (RBM) are reported, together with a preliminary analysis. From the position of the peaks on the two-dimensional plot of excitation resonance energy against Raman shift, the chiral indices (m, n) for each peak are identified. Peaks shift from their positions in air when different pressure media are added – water, hexane, sulphuric acid – and when the nanotubes are unbundled in water with surfactant and sonication. The shift is about 2–3 cm⁻¹ in RBM frequency, but unexpectedly large in resonance energy, being spread over up to 100 meV for a given peak. This contrasts with the effect of pressure. The shift of the peaks of semiconducting nanotubes in water under pressure is orthogonal to the shift from air to water. This permits the separation of the effects of the pressure medium and the pressure, and will enable the true pressure coefficients of the RBM and the other Raman peaks for each (m, n) to be established unambiguously.

Keywords:

• carbon nanotubes
• Raman excitation spectroscopy
• pressure media
• high pressure