Kurnosov M. Influence of bioorganic molecules and biopolymers on spectral properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes

In the dissertation the influence of bioorganic molecules and biopolymers (including amino acids and DNA) on the spectral properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes was studied. DNA adsorption onto the nanotube surface allows obtaining individual nanotubes in aqueous environment. At that the semiconducting nanotubes display luminescence with spectral parameters highly dependent on the nanotube biopolymer surrounding. It is proved experimentally that among amino acids cysteine causes the largest increase of luminescence intensity from nanotubes with adsorbed DNA in aqueous environment. This is due to presence of thiol group in the structure of cysteine, which allows the passivation of defects that quench nanotube luminescence. It is shown that both nanotube biopolymer coverage and amount of defects have an influence on the observed effect of nanotube luminescence increase.