Thermal Emission Spectroscopy of Single, Isolated Carbon Nanoparticles: Effects of Particle Size, Material, Charge, Excitation Wavelength, and Thermal History

Results are presented for thermal emission from individually trapped carbon nanoparticles (NPs) in the temperature range from 1000 to 2100 K. We explore the effects on the magnitude and wavelength dependency of the emissivity, epsilon (lambda), of the NP size and charge and of the type of carbon material, including graphite, graphene, diamond, carbon black, and carbon dots. In addition, it is found that heating the NPs, particularly to temperatures above 1900 K, results in significant changes in the emission properties, which is attributed to changes in the distribution of surface and defect sites caused by annealing and sublimation.