Low temperature fullerene encapsulation in single wall carbon nanotubes: synthesis of N@C$_{60}$@SWCNT

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a low-temperature, scalable method for encapsulating fullerenes and nitrogen-doped fullerenes inside single wall carbon nanotubes, with potential applications in nanotechnology.

Contribution

The authors introduce a solvent-based synthesis technique for filling SWCNTs with fullerenes and N@C60 at low temperatures, enabling scalable production of peapods and double-walled nanotubes.

Findings

High yield filling at 69°C in 2 hours

Successful encapsulation of N@C60 as confirmed by ESR

Transformation into double-walled nanotubes with high efficiency

Abstract

High filling of single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) with C$_{60}$ and C$_{70}$ fullerenes in solvent is reported at temperatures as low as 69 $^{o}$C. A 2 hour long refluxing in n-hexane of the mixture of the fullerene and SWCNT results in a high yield of C$_{60}$,C$_{70}$@SWCNT, fullerene peapod, material. The peapod filling is characterized by TEM, Raman and electron energy loss spectroscopy and X-ray scattering. We applied the method to synthesize the temperature sensitive (N@C$_{60}$:C$_{60}$)@SWCNT as proved by electron spin resonance spectroscopy. The solvent prepared peapod samples can be transformed to double walled nanotubes enabling a high yield and industrially scalable production of DWCNT.