Ultrafast nano generation of acoustic waves in water via a single carbon nanotube

Year: 2022

Authors: Diego M., Gandolfi M., Casto A., Bellussi FM., Vialla F., Crut A., Roddaro S., Fasano M., Vallee F., Del Fatti N., Maioli P., Banfi F.

Autors Affiliation: Univ Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Univ Lyon, Inst Lumiere Mat, FemtoNanoOpt Grp, 10 Rue Ada Byron, F-69622 Villeurbanne, France; CNR INO, Via Branze 45, I-25123 Brescia, Italy; Univ Brescia, Dept Informat Engn, Via Branze 38, I-25123 Brescia, Italy; Univ Cattolica Sacro Cuore, Interdisciplinary Labs Adv Mat Phys I LAMP, via Garzetta 48, I-25133 Brescia, Italy; Univ Cattolica Sacro Cuore, Dipartimento Matemat & Fis, Via dellaGarzetta 48, I-25133 Brescia, Italy; Politecn Torino, Dept Energy, Corso Duca Abruzzi 24, I-10129 Turin, Italy; Univ Pisa, Dipartimento Fis E Fermi, Largo B Pontecorvo 3, I-56127 Pisa, Italy; CNR, Ist Nanosci, NEST, Piazza San Silvestro 12, I-56127 Pisa, Italy; Scuola Normale Super Pisa, Piazza San Silvestro 12, I-56127 Pisa, Italy; Inst Univ France IUF, Paris, France.

Abstract: Generation of ultra high frequency acoustic waves in water is key to nano resolution sensing, acoustic imaging and theranostics. In this context water immersed carbon nanotubes (CNTs) may act as an ideal optoacoustic source, due to their nanometric radial dimensions, peculiar thermal properties and broad band optical absorption. The generation mechanism of acoustic waves in water, upon excitation of both a single -wall (SW) and a multi-wall (MW) CNT with laser pulses of temporal width ranging from 5 ns down to ps, is theoretically investigated via a multiscale approach. We show that, depending on the combination of CNT size and laser pulse duration, the CNT can act as a thermophone or a mechanophone. As a thermophone, the CNT acts as a nanoheater for the surrounding water, which, upon thermal expansion, launches the pressure wave. As a mechanophone, the CNT acts as a nanopiston, its thermal expansion directly triggering the pressure wave in water. Activation of the mechanophone effect is sought to trigger few nanometers wavelength sound waves in water, matching the CNT acoustic frequencies. This is at variance with respect to the commonly addressed case of water-immersed single metallic nano-objects excited with ns laser pulses, where only the thermophone effect significantly contributes. The present findings might be of impact in fields ranging from nanoscale non-destructive testing to water dynamics at the meso to nanoscale.

Journal/Review: PHOTOACOUSTICS

Volume: 28      Pages from: 100407-1  to: 100407-13

More Information: This work was supported by the LABEX iMUST (ANR-10-LABX-0064) of Universite de Lyon, France, within the program Investissements d’Avenir’’ (ANR-11-IDEX-0007) operated by the French National Research Agency (ANR), by ANR through project 2D-PRESTO under Reference ANR-19-CE09-0027, and through project ULTRASINGLE under Reference No. ANR-20-CE30-0016.; F.B. acknowledges financial support from CNRS, France through Delegation CNRS 2021-2022. S.R. acknowledges financial support from the Italian Ministry of University and Research (PRIN Project QUANTUM2D). M.F., F.M.B and A.C. thank the Politecnico di Torino’s High Performance Computing Initiative (http://hpc.polito.it/) for the availability of computing resources.
KeyWords: Ultrafast photoacoustics; Acoustic waves; Hypersonic; Photothermal; Carbon nanotubes; Nanoscale heat transfer; Thermophone; Mechanophone
DOI: 10.1016/j.pacs.2022.100407

Citations: 9
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