Optical limiting study of double wall carbon nanotube Fullerene hybrids

Abstract

In order to merge complementary temporal and spatial nonlinear optical characteristics of Fullerene and carbon nanotubes, synthesis of double wall carbon nanotube–Fullerene hybrid was performed by covalently linking DWNT and C60 by amination reaction with polyethylenimine. DWNT–Fullerene hybrids were characterized by thermogravimetric analysis, UV–vis spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Optical limiting performance of DWNT–Fullerene hybrids is superior to those of Fullerenes and SWNTs at the same level (80%) of transmission. Whereas nonlinear scattering is an evident mechanism, reverse saturable absorption from Fullerene moieties has significant contribution. Charge transfer between the DWNT and Fullerene moieties may play an important role of optical limiting.