Mechanico-chemical interaction of single-walled carbon nanotubes with different host matrices evidenced by SERS spectroscopy

Surface enhanced Raman scattering with 676.4 and 1064 nm excitations was used to investigate single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) compressed non-hydrostatically at 0.58 GPa, alone or dispersed into chemical reactive and non-reactive host matrices. By compression, SWNTs break in fragments of different size. Between SWNTs fragments and the host matrix various mechanico-chemical reactions take place. In matrices such KI and Ag, donor–acceptor complexes are formed. In aromatic hydrocarbons like biphenyl or p-terphenyl, an ionic and covalent functionalization of SWNTs fragments is demonstrated by new bands at 1160 and 1458 cm−1, the latter being associated to an Ag(2) pentagonal pinch mode.