Chapter 2: A Comparison of the Optical Limiting Properties of Different Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube/Conjugated Polymer Dispersions

The effect of the type of polymer used to disperse Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWNTs) on the optical limiting performances of the resulting dispersions was studied. One conjugated polymer Poly(9,9-di-n-hexylfluorenyl-2,7-diyl) (PFO) possessing a flexible backbone, and two conjugated polymers Poly(2,5-dioctylphenylene1,4-ethynylene) (PPE), and Poly(9,9-dioctylfluorenyl-2,7-yleneethynylene) (PFE) possessing rigid backbones were used to disperse the SWNTs. It was found that the resulting optical limiting performances depended on the structure (rigid or flexible) of the polymers, as well as on the number of aromatic groups present in the backbone of the rigid conjugated polymers.