Structures and Optical Properties of Nanoforest-Like Carbon Nanotubes Decorated with Nanoparticles of Strontium Aluminate Doped with Rare-Earth Elements

Nowadays, carbon nanotubes have a lot of applications in daily life, being applied in the fabrication of cellphones, computers, nanotransistors, among many others. Currently, their new applications in biotechnology area are in research, in particular in order to find new biosensors with fluorescent properties applying on the basis of multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). In this work, the obtaining of carbon nanoparticles having fluorescent properties via spray pyrolysis is presented. Synthesis, properties, structural peculiarities, and applications of nanobuds and related nanostructures are discussed. MWCNTs, decorated with strontium aluminate SrAl12O19 and doped with rare-earth elements, were synthetized from distinct organic precursors and the corresponding metal oxides. The metal oxides used were Samarium (Sm), Europium (Eu), Neodymium (Nd), Lanthanum (La), Cerium (Ce) and some their combinations.