Long linear carbon-chains have been attracting intense interest arising from the remarkable properties predicted and their potential applications in future nanotechnology. Here we comprehensively interrogate the excitonic transitions and the associat
ed relaxation dynamics of nanotube confined long linear carbon-chains by using steady state and time-resolved Raman spectroscopies. The exciton relaxation dynamics on the confined carbon-chains occurs on a hundreds of picoseconds timescale, in strong contrast to the host dynamics that occurs on a few picosecond timescale. A prominent time-resolved Raman response is observed over a broad energy range extending from 1.2 to 2.8 eV, which includes the strong Raman resonance region around 2.2 eV. Evidence for a strong coupling between the chain and the nanotube host is found from the dynamics at high excitation energies which provides a clear evidence for an efficient energy transfer from the host carbon nanotube to the chain. Our experimental study presents the first unique characterization of the long linear carbon-chain exciton dynamics, providing indispensable knowledge for the understanding of the interactions between different carbon allotropes.
Three typical one-dimensional (1D)/quasi-1D nanocarbons, linear carbon chains, carbon nanotubes, and graphene nanoribbons have been proven to grow inside single-wall carbon nanotubes. This gives rise to three types of hybrid materials whose behaviour
and properties compared among each other are far from understood. After proving successful the synthesis of these nanostructured materials in recently published work, we have now been able to study their oxidation stability systematically by using resonance Raman spectroscopy. Surprisingly, the linear carbon chains, which have been theoretically predicted to be very unstable, are actually thermally stable up to 500 {deg}C assisted by the protection of the carbon nanotube hosts. Besides, longer linear carbon chains inside narrower CNTs are more stable than the shorter ones inside larger tubes, suggesting that the thermal stability not only depends on the length of linear carbon chains alone, but it is correlated with the confinement of the host tubes in a more complicated manner. In addition, graphene nanoribbons come overall in view as the most stable confined structures. On the other hand, peculiarities like the higher stability of the (6,5) CNT over its (6,4) counterpart allow this study to provide a solid platform for further studies on the application of these 1D nanocarbons (including true 1D linear carbon chains) at ambient conditions.
