Rice University researchers have discovered a simple way to make
carbon nanotubes shine brighter. The Rice lab of researcher
Bruce Weisman, a pioneer in nanotube spectroscopy, found that
adding tiny amounts of ozone to batches of single-walled carbon
nanotubes and exposing them to light decorates all the nanotubes
with oxygen atoms and systematically changes their near-infrared
fluorescence. Chemical reactions on nanotube surfaces generally
kill their limited natural fluorescence, Weisman said. But the
new process actually enhances the intensity and shifts the
wavelength. He expects the breakthrough, reported online in the
journal Science, to expand opportunities for biological and
material uses of nanotubes, from the ability to track them in
single cells to novel lasers. Best of all, the process of making
these bright nanotubes is incredibly easy -- "simple enough for
a physical chemist to do," said Weisman, a physical chemist
himself. He and primary author Saunab Ghosh, a graduate student
in his lab, discov