Carbon Nanoparticles

Peter Dow

Date of Award

2004

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Sendova, Mariana

Keywords

Carbon Nanoparticles, Laser, Silicon Carbide

Area of Concentration

Physics

Abstract

In view of the recent progress in nanophysics and nanotechnologies the ability to assemble individual nanoparticles and to organize them in the desired structures becomes more important. In this study the possibility of aligning carbon nanotubes is explored using linearly polarized light from Nd: YAG laser operating at its 4th harmonic, 266 nm. Suspensions of multiwalled carbon nanotubes in chloroform, alcohol and a water-surfactant solution were spin-coated onto silicon, SiO2 and styrene substrates and imaged using an AFM operating in wavemode. Images were taken at the same spot both before and after the laser exposure. The images obtained demonstrate that it is possible to manipulate multi-walled carbon nanotubes deposited on any of the aforementioned substrates using polarized light. This process can be explained by the interaction of the strong electric field of the laser radiation with the highly anisotropic polarizability of the carbon nanotubes. Additionally, SiC/PMMA were created using a UV initiated polymerization technique. The samples were then characterized using differential scanning calorimetry, Vickers microhardness, UV-Vis spectrometry and a photoluminescence study was performed.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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