Tunable near-infrared emitters and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9983058-B2
Application number	US-201715590397-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 9, 2017
Priority date	May 9, 2016
Publication date	May 29, 2018
Grant date	May 29, 2018

Abstract

The present invention relates to near-infrared quantum emitters, and in particular carbon nanostructures with chemically incorporated fluorescent defects, and methods of synthesizing near-infrared emitting nanostructures.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of synthesizing a near infrared emitter comprising the steps of:
reacting a carbon nanostructure with a halogen-containing hydrocarbon precursor and thereby creating sp 3 defects in said carbon nanostructure,
wherein covalent functionalization produces fluorescent defects that emit near-infrared radiation having wavelengths between about 800 nm and about 2500 nm.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said carbon nanostructure is a carbon nanotube (CNT).

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein said CNT has a diameter of between about 0.5 nm and about 1.6 nm.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said sp 3 defects are created in a pristine carbon nanostructure during said reacting step.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said halogen-containing hydrocarbon precursor is a chlorine, a bromide, an iodide or a di-halide alkyl precursor.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein said halogen-containing hydrocarbon precursor is a polymer containing the reactive halogen.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein said halogen-containing hydrocarbon precursor is a polyoligonucleotide containing the reactive halogen.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein said halogen-containing hydrocarbon precursor is an alkyl halide.

9. The method of claim 5 , wherein said reacting step further comprises combining said carbon nanostructure with sodium dithionite (Na2S2O4), said sodium dithionite activating said alkyl precursor.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein said halogen-containing hydrocarbon precursor is an iodide or di-halide aryl precursor.

11. The method of claim 10 , comprising exposing said carbon nanostructure and said aryl precursor to electromagnetic radiation having a wavelength(s) of between about 300 nm and about 1200 nm and resonant with said carbon nanostructures, said electromagnetic radiation activating said aryl precursor.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein said created sp 3 defects are selected from the group consisting of monovalent alkyl defects, divalent alkyl defects, monovalent aryl defects, and divalent aryl defects.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein said covalently functionalized carbon nanostructure is functionalized with an alkyl group or an aryl group.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein said covalently functionalized carbon nanostructure is functionalized with —(CH 2 ) n (CF 2 ) m CF 3 , wherein n is an integer between 0 and 10, and wherein m is an integer between 0 and 10.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein said covalently functionalized carbon nanostructure is functionalized with —(CH 2 ) n CH 3 , wherein n is an integer between 0 and 17.

16. A synthetic near-infrared emitter, comprising:
a carbon nanostructure comprising sp 3 defects in a carbon lattice thereof and created via reaction with a halogen-containing hydrocarbon precursor; and
a functional group covalently bonded to said sp 3 defects to produce fluorescent defects that emit near-infrared radiation having wavelengths between about 800 nm and about 2500 nm.

17. The near-infrared emitter of claim 16 , wherein said carbon nanostructure is a carbon nanotube (CNT).

18. The near-infrared emitter of claim 16 , wherein said CNT has a diameter of between about 0.5 nm and about 1.6 nm.

19. The near-infrared emitter of claim 16 , wherein said functional group is selected from the group consisting of a monovalent alkyl group, a divalent alkyl group, a monovalent aryl group, and a divalent aryl group.

20. The near-infrared emitter of claim 16 , wherein said functional group is —(CH 2 ) n (CF 2 ) m X, wherein n is an integer between 0 and 17, and wherein m is an integer between 0 and 17, and wherein X is CH3, CF3, NH2, N+(CH2CH3)2, or COOH.

21. The near-infrared emitter of claim 16 , wherein said functional group is —(CH 2 ) n CH 3 , wherein n is an integer between 0 and 10.

Assignees

• Wang Yuhuang
• Kwon Hyejin
• Kim Mijin
• Univ Maryland

Inventors

• Wang Yuhuang
• Kwon Hyejin
• Kim Mijin

Classifications

• H01L49/006

  Electricity · mapped topic

• B82Y20/00

  Nanooptics, e.g. quantum optics or photonic crystals · CPC title

• H01L51/5262

  Electricity · mapped topic

• B01J19/128

  Infrared light · CPC title

• G01J3/108 Primary

  for measurement in the infrared range · CPC title