Internal charge transfer in metallicity sorted ferrocene filled carbon nanotube hybrids

Site selective high resolution photoemission and X-ray absorption have revealed the complex interplay between ferrocene and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) upon filling. The use of ultraclean and metallicity sorted nanotubes as starting material and a subsequent ferrocene filling, yields metallicity sorted hybrids, where the details of the internal charge transfer from Fe to the SWCNTs have been distinctly unravelled. An n-type doping of the SWCNTs has been identified, with the peculiarity that purely metallic tubes are prone up to 30% higher doping than their semiconducting counterparts. Concomitantly, the average Fe valency changes from 2 in ferrocene to 2.3 in the ferrocene/semiconducting SWCNT hybrids and to 2.4 in the ferrocene/metallic SWCNT hybrids. The origin of this extra charge transfer has been revealed to be ionic by resonant photoemission, which excludes a finite hybridization between the ferrocene filler and the SWCNTs. This does not only substantiate that the internal charge transfer determines the resulting electronic transport properties in the filled 1D carbon hybrids, but that the metallic or semiconducting character of the encapsulating tubes is crucial towards tailoring and regulating tunable 1D electronic transport properties in these materials that are highly desirable in nanoelectronics. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.