Endohedral and exohedral hybrids involving fullerenes and carbon nanotubes.

Since fullerenes and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were discovered, these materials have attracted a great deal of attention in the scientific community due to their unique structures and properties. The properties of both carbon allotropes can be modulated by chemical functionalization, and merging fullerenes and CNTs combines the electronic and optical properties of CNTs with the excellent electron acceptor characteristic of fullerenes; moreover, a synergistic effect of these hybrids can be found, as the properties of both the nanotube and the fullerene are affected by the presence of the other. In these hybrids, the fullerene can be located inside (endohedral) or outside (exohedral) the CNT and both types of hybrid have specific features.

A soluble hybrid material combining carbon nanohorns and C60.

A soluble hybrid nanomaterial that combines fullerenes and carbon nanohorns (CNHs) has been prepared and fully characterized. Electrochemical investigations revealed that the CNHs modify the electron accepting ability of C(60) in the hybrid material.

Cycloaddition of benzyne to SWCNT: towards CNT-based paddle wheels.

The cycloaddition of benzyne to SWCNT has been carried out for the first time. Raman spectroscopy, TGA, HR-TEM, UV-vis-NIR as well as XPS have been used for products characterization.

A carbon nanohorn-porphyrin supramolecular assembly for photoinduced electron-transfer processes.

A supramolecular assembly of zinc porphyrin-carbon nanohorns (CNHs) was constructed in a polar solvent. An ammonium cation was covalently connected to the CNH through a spacer (sp) (CNH-sp-NH(3)(+)) and bound to a crown ether linked to a zinc porphyrin (Crown-ZnP). Nanohybrids CNH-sp-NH(3)(+);Crown-ZnP and CNH-sp-NH(3)(+) were characterized by several techniques, such as high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy.