A high sensitive probe for monitoring synthesis quality of single-walled carbon nanotubes by surface-enhanced Raman scattering

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering spectrum of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) has been obtained in the solid film, which was formed by Au nano-particles and SWCNTs. Not only the radial breathing mode and tangential stretching mode were enhanced, but also a series of new Raman lines in 1100–1500 cm21 region was observed due to strong interaction between Au nano-particles and SWCNTs resulting in the releasing of the Raman scattering selection rules. Theoretical analysis indicated that those new lines were attributed to enhanced Raman signals of the disorder-mode (DM), which characterized defects and carbon nano-particles on nanotubes. This can be used as a probe technique for monitoring the synthesis quality of SWCNTs with significant higher sensitivity than other methods, which has promising potentiality of being a new technique for practically monitoring synthesis quality of SWCNTs. q 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.