The importance of solvent properties for optical limiting of carbon nanotube dispersions

The optical limiting performances of single-walled carbon nanotube dispersions in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone were enhanced significantly by blending a range of organic solvents or by increasing the temperature of the dispersions up to 100 degrees C. While both nanotube bundle size and various solvent parameters have an influence on the optical limiting responses, we verified experimentally that the surface tension of the solvent plays a more important role than the viscosity or boiling point; the appropriate solvent properties contribute to the nonlinear scattering dominated optical limiting phenomenon more than the bundle size. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.