A dioxaborine cyanine dye as a photoluminescence probe for sensing carbon nanotubes

The unique properties of carbon nanotubes have made them the material of choice for many current and future industrial applications. As a consequence of the increasing development of nanotechnology, carbon nanotubes show potential threat to health and environment. Therefore, development of efficient method for detection of carbon nanotubes is required. In this work, we have studied the interaction of indopentamethinedioxaborine dye (DOB-719) and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) using absorption and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. In the mixture of the dye and the SWNTs we have revealed new optical features in the spectral range of the intrinsic excitation of the dye due to resonance energy transfer from DOB-719 to SWNTs. Specifically, we have observed an emergence of new PL peaks at the excitation wavelength of 735 nm and a redshift of the intrinsic PL peaks of SWNT emission (up to 40 nm) in the near-infrared range. The possible mechanism of the interaction between DOB-719 and SWNTs has been proposed. Thus, it can be concluded that DOB-719 dye has promising applications for designing efficient and tailorable optical probes for the detection of SWNTs.