Nanonews

Welcome to the homepage of the carbon nanostructures group

Carbon nanostructures have been among the hottest topics in the study of novel materials in recent years. In our laboratory we investigate fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, graphene, and self-assembled nanostructures using various optical spectroscopy techniques ranging from the far-infrared to the UV region.

Fullerenes are highly symmetric structures and even small distortions can change their spectroscopic properties considerably. One special case of these distortions is caused by the molecular Jahn-Teller effect. In fullerene-based solids, the Jahn-Teller effect is coupled to strong electron correlation and this coupling results in unconventional phenomena, such as the Mott-Jahn-Teller insulating phase or correlated superconductivity. Vibrational spectroscopy is a very sensitive tool to detect the subtle details of these states and their transitions.

Carbon nanotubes are another exciting family of carbon materials both as model systems for unusual physical effects and as potential applications. We study fundamental properties of high purity single-walled carbon nanotube samples with different diameter distribution, the effect of doping and of covalent functionalization on the electronic properties, and ways to improve nanotube films to be used as transparent conductors, similar to the currently used ITO. Our methods are optical and fluorescence spectroscopy.

There is a wide variety of supramolecular structures that are investigated and, in some cases, prepared in our laboratory. Among these are fullerene-cubane rotor-stator systems, carbon nanotubes filled with various materials and hydrogen-bonded systems. We use vibrational spectroscopy to characterize the structure and dynamics of these systems.