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SYMN: Intersectional Symposium Transport and Spectroscopy in Molecular Nanostructures
SYMN 1: Transport and Spectroscopy in Molecular Nanostructures
SYMN 1.2: Invited Talk
Wednesday, March 16, 2011, 11:00–11:30, HSZ 01
Spectroscopy and transport in carbon nanotubes and graphene nanoribbons for electronics and biological applications — •Oleg Prezhdo — University of Rochester, Department of Chemistry, Rochester, NY 14627, USA
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) constitute a new class of materials with many potential applications. We will discuss the results of our time-domain ab initio studies of these materials aimed at designing biological detection tools and miniature electronics devices. First, we will focus on the spectroscopy of semiconducting CNTs and GNRs. These materials can replace traditional semiconductors, such as silicon, in electronics applications, allowing one to create smaller devices. In order to achieve this goal, the electrons and holes in semiconducting CNTs and GNRs should live for sufficiently long times. However, spectroscopic experiments show that the electron-hole pairs tend to recombine nonradiatively on a fairly short timescale. We will discuss the origin and mechanism of the nonradiative recombination and the role of structural and chemical defects in this process. Second, we will discuss the application of CNTs and GNRs for determining DNA sequence. In comparison to the current sequencing tools, CNTs and GNRs have a great potential for significantly faster and cheaper detection. DNA naturally wrap around CNTs, and DNA sequence can be read off the CNT by scanning tools. By creating pores in GNRs and pulling DNA through these pores, one can detect the modulation of the electrical current along GNRs and obtain the DNA sequence rapidly and with a single base resolution.