Determination of electronic states of individually dissolved (n,m) single-walled carbon nanotubes in solution

Solution redox chemistry is useful to understand the chirality-dependent electronic properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). We have found that the electron transfer reactions of sodium dithionite with SWNTs cause photoluminescence (PL) quenching processes of 14 individually dissolved SWNTs in an aqueous micellar solution. Based on the analysis using the Nernst equation for the PL change, we have determined the conduction band (c₁) levels of the 14 isolated SWNTs. We have also estimated the valence band (ν₁) levels as well as the Fermi levels of the SWNTs using the reported bandgap values of the corresponding isolated SWNTs.