Structure and optical properties of carbon nanomaterials: nanodiamonds, nanographite, carbon nanotubes, and graphene
At present, the class of nanocarbon materials includes a variety of diverse structures of various dimensions, such as nanographites, nanodiamonds, nanotubes, and graphene. These materials possess unique combinations of electrical, mechanical, thermal, optical and other properties and can be used in a wide range of actual devices for nanoelectronics and nanophotonics, such as energy converters, energy storage devices, sensors for various substances, as well as for the creation of a variety of composite materials. Attaining optimal functional characteristics of nanocarbon materials, in particular luminescent properties, is directly related to their internal structure, which may change considerably depending on the synthesis conditions and additional processing. Thus, one of the main advantages of nanocarbon materials is the ability to tune and obtain desired optical properties due to variations in their internal structure. However, presently there is still no complete understanding of the mechanisms of growth of nanocarbon structures, as well as of the dependence of their optical properties on structure. Within the framework of our projects, in cooperation with laboratories for the synthesis of luminescent nanodiamonds, nanographites and graphenes in the USA, France and Japan, we investigate the effect of the structure and energy dissipation in nanocarbon materials on their optical properties, using the most modern experimental techniques of luminescence spectroscopy and micro-Raman analysis.