Synthesis and photocatalytic properties of coaxial nanohybrids consisting of single-walled carbon nanotube supramolecular system

A water-soluble supramolecular nanohybrids was obtained by sonication and centrifugation of a water dispersion of fullerodendron and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). A coaxial nanocable structure was confirmed by photoluminescence spectra, AFM, and TEM, that showed a SWCNT core and fullerodendron shell. Surface functional groups of the hybrid can interact to form compounds with various inorganic materials such as CaCO3 and SiO2. SWCNT/fullerodendron/CaCO3 fabricated through biomimetic mineralization showed unique core–shell microsphere structures while SWCNT/fullerodendron/SiO2 still had a coaxial nanocable structure. Because of a photofunctional interface, SWCNT/fullerodendron/SiO2 hybrids have a high photocatalytic activity (ϕ = 0.31) for the evolution of hydrogen from water under irradiation with visible light (450 nm). A single component photocatalytic system was constructed by introducing Pt complexes into SWCNT/fullerodendron supramolecular nanocomposite. [TANSO 2013 (No. 258) 210–5.]