STORRS, Conn. - Chemists at the University of Connecticut have found a way to greatly increase the luminescence efficiency of single-walled carbon nanotubes, a discovery that could have significant applications in medical imaging and other areas.
Increasing the luminescence efficiency of carbon nanotubes may someday make it possible for doctors to inject patients with microscopic nanotubes to detect tumors, arterial blockages and other internal problems. Rather than relying on potentially harmful x-rays or the use of radioactive dyes, physicians could simply scan patients with an infrared light that would capture a very sharp resolution of the luminescence of the nanotubes in problem areas.
UConn's process of increasing the luminescence efficiency of single-walled carbon nanotubes will be featured in Science magazine on Friday, March 6, 2009. The research was performed in the Nanomaterials Optoelectronics Laboratory at the Institute of Materials Science at the University of Connecticut, in Storrs, CT. A patent for the process is pending.
University of Connecticut Chemist Fotios Papadimitrakopoulos describes the discovery as a major breakthrough and one of the most significant discoveries in his 10 years of working with single-walled carbon nanotubes. Assisting Papadimitrakopoulos with the research were Polymer Program graduate student Sang-Yong Ju (now a researcher at Cornell University) and William P. Kopcha, a former Chemistry undergraduate assistant in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences who is now a first-year graduate student at UConn.
Although carbon is used in many diverse applications, scientists have long been stymied by the element's limited ability to emit light. The best scientists have been able to do with solution-suspended carbon nanotubes was to raise their luminescence efficiency to about one-half of one percent, which is extremely low compared to other materials, such as quantum dots and quant
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| Contact: Colin Poitras colin.poitras@uconn.edu 860-486-4656 University of Connecticut Source:Eurekalert |
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