Diameter-dependent bending dynamics of single-walled carbon nanotubes in liquids

Nikta Fakhri (1, 2) , Dmitri A. Tsyboulski (3, 4) , Laurent Cognet (4, 5) , R. Bruce Weisman (3, 4, 6) , Matteo Pasquali (1, 2, 3, 4, 6)

1 Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
2 Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology
3 The Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology
4 Department of Chemistry
5 CPMOH - Centre de physique moléculaire optique et hertzienne
6 NanoCarbon Center

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.

Mots clés: actin; microrheology; semiflexible filaments and polymers; stochastic dynamics; nanomechanics

Nikta Fakhri, Dmitri A. Tsyboulski, Laurent Cognet, R. Bruce Weisman, Matteo Pasquali. Diameter-dependent bending dynamics of single-walled carbon nanotubes in liquids. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2009, 106 (34), pp.14219-223. ⟨10.1073/pnas.0904148106⟩. ⟨hal-00670287⟩