Fluorescent quantum defects are a new class of quantum emitters that hold vast potentials for applications in bioimaging, sensing, and quantum information processing. Previous studies by us and others have shown that in semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), a quantum defect creates a molecularly tunable potential well where a mobile exciton can be trapped and fluoresce from there brightly. To guide the design and synthesis of these molecularly tunable fluorescent quantum defects, here we establish a comprehensive structure-property relationship based on comparative spectral studies of 11 SWCNT chiralities that are sorted to pure single chirality or high purity and more than 40 different moieties that vary in electron withdrawing capability and bonding configurations. Our results show that the defect emission is tunable as a function of nanotube structure and the chemical nature of the defect. We observed a linear correlation between chiral angle of SWCNTs and the energy level of defect states. The binding energy of exciton trapped at defect sites is found to inversely correlate with the nanotube diameter. For the limited species investigated here, the largest redshift is observed in perfluorinated hexyl defect tailored (6,4)-SWCNT, while smaller shifts occur in hexyl defect-tailored larger diameter SWCNTs. Our findings provide important insights for designing and controlling this new family of synthetic quantum systems.

Mapping structure-property relations in molecularly tunable fluorescent quantum defects

254th National Meeting (2017)

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