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True-Color Real-Time Imaging and Spectroscopy of Carbon Nanotubes on Substrates Using Enhanced Rayleigh Scattering (CAT#: STEM-ST-0011-YJL)

Introduction

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) illuminated by white light should appear colored due to resonance Rayleigh scattering. However, true-color imaging of SWCNTs on substrates has not been reported, because of the extremely low scattering intensity of SWCNTs and the strong substrate scattering. Colorful SWCNTs on substrates can be directly imaged under an optical microscope by wide field supercontinuum laser illumination, which facilitates high throughput chirality assignment of individual SWCNTs. This approach, termed “Rayleigh imaging microscopy”, is not restricted to SWCNTs, but widely applicable to a variety of nanomaterials, which enables the colorful nanoworld to be explored under optical microscopes.




Principle

Resonance Rayleigh scattering (RRS) is similar to Rayleigh scattering in nature. Resonance Rayleigh scattering is a special elastic scattering produced when the wavelength of Rayleigh scattering (RS) is located at or close to its molecular absorption band. The key to generating RRS is: when the scattering is at or close to the absorption band of the scattering molecule, since the electron absorbs the electromagnetic wave at the same frequency as the scattering frequency, the electron strongly absorbs the photon energy due to resonance and re-scatters. Its scattering intensity is several orders of magnitude higher than that of pure Rayleigh scattering, and it no longer obeys the Rayleigh law of I∝λ-4. This absorption-rescattering process is called resonance Rayleigh scattering (RRS).

Applications

Resonance Rayleigh scattering is used to the study of aggregation of chromophores on biological macromolecules and the determination of biological macromolecules such as nucleic acid, proteins and heparin, further, it has been used in the determination of trace amounts of inorganic ions and the cationic surfactant by means of ion association reactions with some dyes. In addition, it has been applied to the study of nanoparticles in liquid and the determination of β-cyclodextrin inclusion constant and the critical micelle concentration of surfactant.

Procedure

1. Sample preparation
2. Measurement by scattering detection instrument
3. Data analysis

Materials

Rayleigh scattering measurement system