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Edited by Harry L. Swinney, University of Texas, Austin, TX, and approved June 30, 2009 (received for review April 15, 2009)
Abstract
By relating nanotechnology to soft condensed matter, understanding the mechanics and dynamics of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) in fluids is crucial for both fundamental and applied science. Here, we study the Brownian bending dynamics of individual chirality-assigned SWCNTs in water by fluorescence microscopy. The bending stiffness scales as the cube of the nanotube diameter and the shape relaxation times agree with the semiflexible chain model. This suggests that SWCNTs may be the archetypal semiflexible filaments, highly suited to act as nanoprobes in complex fluids or biological systems.
Footnotes
- 1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mp{at}rice.edu
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Author contributions: N.F., D.A.T., L.C., R.B.W., and M.P. designed research; N.F., D.A.T., and L.C. performed research; N.F., D.A.T., and L.C. analyzed data; and N.F., D.A.T., L.C., R.B.W., and M.P. wrote the paper.
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The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
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This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0904148106/DCSupplemental.
Diameter-dependent bending dynamics of single-walled carbon nanotubes in liquids
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