Electrocatalysis of Single Carbon Nanotubes
Owing to their unique electronic and structural properties, carbon nanotubes, especially single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), have attracted applications in electrochemistry and electrocatalysis. However, due to their dispersion in chirality, samples of SWNTs always contain a mixture of metallic and semiconducting nanotubes, which makes it imperative to study them at the single-tube level. Our group has recently developed a single-molecule fluorescence approach to study electrocatalysis of individual SWNTs at single-reaction resolution in real time. By detecting a fluorescent product one molecule at a time (Figure), we can identify discrete reactive sites on the SWNTs using super-resolution optical imaging and probe the electrocatalytic reactivity of each reactive site on a SWNT, where interfacial electron-transfer reactions occur. In combination with conductivity measurements, this approach is powerful to interrogate how the electronic structure of SWNTs affects the electrocatalytic interfacial electron transfer, a process fundamental to photoelectrochemical cells, fuel cells, and batteries. See our paper for details.
Some press highlights about this research:
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"Finding how carbon nanotubes work as catalysts could lead to cleaner fuels" by Bill Steele, Cornell Chronicle.
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"Catalytic behaviour of SWCNTs scrutinised" Chemistry World Blog, April 20, 2009.
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"Pinpointing catalytic reaction sites on carbon nanotube walls" by Michael Berger, Nanowerk, April 21, 2009.
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"Single-Molecule Fluorescence Events Seen In Real Time" by Mitch Jacoby, Chemical & Engineering News, 2009, 87(16), 38.
Figure. Schematic of single-molecule electrocatalysis of SWNTs.