Project description
Exploring the exotic properties of dipolar molecules in carbon nanotubes
Transport phenomena in hollow tubes are relevant on all scales, from storm water in pipes and blood in vessels to molecules in nanofluidic devices. Diameter plays a key role in modulating these transport processes. Characterising the diameter-dependent filling of hollow carbon nanotubes (CNTs) will accelerate the development of novel devices. The European Research Council-funded ORDERin1D project will address this challenge, focusing on the unique head-to-tail alignment of dipolar molecules in CNTs. These arrangements yield molecular directional properties that could lead to pioneering applications in nanophotonics. The insights gained could pave the way for ultra-selective filtering membranes, sensors, nanofluidic devices, and nanohybrids with unprecedented control over structural order at the molecular scale.
Objective
The hollow structure of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with a wide range of diameters forms an ideal one-dimensional host system to study restricted diameter-dependent molecular transport and to achieve unique polar molecular order. For the ORDERin1D project, I will capitalize on my recent breakthroughs in the processing, filling, chiral sorting and high-resolution spectroscopic characterization of empty and filled CNTs, aiming for a diameter-dependent characterization of the filling with various molecules, which will pave the way for the rational design of ultraselective filtermembranes, sensors, nanofluidic devices and nanohybrids with unseen control over the structural order at the molecular scale. In particular, I recently found that dipolar molecules naturally align head-to-tail into a polar array inside the CNTs, after which their molecular directional properties such as their dipole moment and second-order nonlinear optical responses add up coherently, groundbreaking for the development of nanophotonics applications.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologynanotechnologynano-materialstwo-dimensional nanostructuresgraphene
- engineering and technologychemical engineeringseparation technologiesdesalinationreverse osmosis
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensors
- engineering and technologynanotechnologynanophotonics
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesopticsspectroscopy
Programme(s)
Topic(s)
Funding Scheme
ERC-STG - Starting GrantHost institution
2000 Antwerpen
Belgium