Preparation and structure analysis of double-wall carbon nanotubes encapsulating gadolinium trichloride nanowires

We report the synthesis of high purity double-wall carbon nanotubes encapsulating GdCl3 nanowires (GdCl3@DWCNTs). The obtained GdCl3@DWCNTs were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Raman spectroscopy, UV–Vis-NIR spectroscopy, and fluorescence spectroscopy. TEM measurements show that GdCl3 impurities were absent on the exterior of the tubes and bundles. Furthermore, significant changes of the optical properties of the inner tubes were not triggered by being filled with GdCl3 nanowires, which suggests that significant charge transfer does not occur between the encapsulated GdCl3 and the inner tubes. Our results indicate that GdCl3@DWCNTs could be useful for various applications using the expected magnetic properties of GdCl3 and almost unchanged optical properties of DWCNTs. 2013 (No. 260) 279–83.]