Poly(3-hexyl-thiophene) coil-wrapped single wall carbon nanotube investigated by scanning tunneling spectroscopy

Scanning tunneling spectroscopy was performed on a (15,0) single wall carbon nanotube partially wrapped by poly(3-hexyl-thiophene). On the bare nanotube section, the local density of states is in good agreement with the theoretical model based on local density approximation and remarkably is not perturbed by the polymer wrapping. On the coiled section, a rectifying current-voltage characteristic has been observed along with the charge transfer from the polymer to the nanotube. The electron transfer from poly(3-hexyl-thiophene) to metallic nanotube was previously theoretically proposed and contributes to the presence of the Schottky barrier at the interface responsible for the rectifying behavior. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3241998]