title: Molecularly Tunable Fluorescent Quantum Defects.
abstract: We describe the chemical creation of molecularly tunable fluorescent quantum defects in semiconducting carbon nanotubes through covalently bonded surface functional groups that are themselves nonemitting. By variation of the surface functional groups, the same carbon nanotube crystal is chemically converted to create more than 30 distinct fluorescent nanostructures with unique near-infrared photoluminescence that is molecularly specific, systematically tunable, and significantly brighter than that of the parent semiconductor. This novel exciton-tailoring chemistry readily occurs in aqueous solution and creates functional defects on the sp(2) carbon lattice with highly predictable C-C bonding from virtually any iodine-containing hydrocarbon precursor. Our new ability to control nanostructure excitons through a single surface functional group opens up exciting possibilities for postsynthesis chemical engineering of carbon nanomaterials and suggests that the rational design and creation of a large variety of molecularly tunable quantum emitters-for applications ranging from in vivo bioimaging and chemical sensing to room-temperature single-photon sources-can now be anticipated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland , College Park, Maryland 20742, United States.
authors.forename: Hyejin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University , 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States.|Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Northwestern University , 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States.
authors.forename: Al'ona
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Furmanchuk
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland , College Park, Maryland 20742, United States.
authors.forename: Mijin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland , College Park, Maryland 20742, United States.
authors.forename: Brendan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Meany
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Organofluorine Chemistry, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University , 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States.
authors.forename: George C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Schatz
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland , College Park, Maryland 20742, United States.|Maryland NanoCenter, University of Maryland , College Park, Maryland 20742, United States.
authors.forename: YuHuang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang