Probing the Influence of Amino Acids on Photoluminescence from Carbon Nanotubes Suspended with DNA

The quantitative analysis of amino acid levels in the human organism is required for the early clinical diagnosis of a variety of diseases. In this work the influence of 13 amino acid doping on the photoluminescence (PL) from the semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) suspended with single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) in water has been studied. Amino acid doping leads to the PL enhancement and the strongest increase was found after cysteine doping of the nanotube suspension while addition of other amino acids yielded the significantly smaller effect. The emphasis of cysteine molecules is attributed to presence of the reactive thiol group that turns cysteine into reducing agent that passivates the p-defects on the nanotube sidewall and increases the PL intensity. The reasons of PL enhancement after doping with other amino acids are discussed. The response of nanotube PL to cysteine addition depends on the nanotube aqueous suspension preparation with tip or bath sonication treatment. The enhancement of the emission from different nanotube species after cysteine doping was analyzed too. It was shown that the increase of the carbon nanotube PL at addition of cysteine allows successful monitoring of the cysteine concentration in aqueous solution in the range of 50–1000 μM.