Search results for "CARBON NANOTUBES"
showing 10 items of 165 documents
Electronic properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes inside cyclic supermolecules
2006
Possible ways for manipulating carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with cyclic supermolecules are studied using density functional theory. Electronic structure calculations with structure optimizations have been performed for the (4,4) and (8,0) single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) complexed with crown ethers as well as for the (4,0) SWNT with beta-cyclodextrin. A slight polarization of charge in both the nanotube and the supermolecule is observed upon rotaxane complexation, but the interaction is mainly repulsive, and the systems stay 2.8-3.5 A apart. The supermolecule does not affect the electronic band structure of the nanotube significantly within such a configuration. The situation differs notic…
Anomalous Slowdown of Polymer Detachment Dynamics on Carbon Nanotubes
2019
The "wrapping" of polymer chains on the surface of carbon nanotubes allows one to obtain multifunctional hybrid materials with unique properties for a wide range of applications in biomedicine, electronics, nanocomposites, biosensors, and solar cell technologies. We study by means of molecular dynamics simulations the force-assisted desorption kinetics of a polymer from the surface of a carbon nanotube. We find that, due to the geometric coupling between the adsorbing surface and the conformation of the macromolecule, the process of desorption slows down dramatically upon increasing the windings around the nanotube. This behavior can be rationalized in terms of an overdamped dynamics with a…
Lateral force microscopy of multiwalled carbon nanotubes
2009
Carbon nanotubes are usually imaged with the atomic force microscope (AFM) in non-contact mode. However, in many applications, such as mechanical manipulation or elasticity measurements, contact mode is used. The forces affecting the nanotube are then considerable and not fully understood. In this work lateral forces were measured during contact mode imaging with an AFM across a carbon nanotube. We found that, qualitatively, both magnitude and sign of the lateral forces to the AFM tip were independent of scan direction and can be concluded to arise from the tip slipping on the round edges of the nanotube. The dependence on the normal force applied to the tip and on the ratio between nanotub…
Controlling electrical percolation in multicomponent carbon nanotube dispersions
2011
Carbon nanotube reinforced polymeric composites can have favourable electrical properties, which make them useful for applications such as flat-panel displays and photovoltaic devices. However, using aqueous dispersions to fabricate composites with specific physical properties requires that the processing of the nanotube dispersion be understood and controlled while in the liquid phase. Here, using a combination of experiment and theory, we study the electrical percolation of carbon nanotubes introduced into a polymer matrix, and show that the percolation threshold can be substantially lowered by adding small quantities of a conductive polymer latex. Mixing colloidal particles of different …
Launching propagating surface plasmon polaritons by a single carbon nanotube dipolar emitter.
2011
International audience; We report on the excitation of propagating surface plasmon polaritons in thin metal films by a single emitter. Upon excitation in the visible regime, individual semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes are shown to act as directional near-infrared point dipole sources launching propagating surface plasmons mainly along the direction of the nanotube axis. Plasmon excitation and propagation is monitored in Fourier and real space by leakage radiation microscopy and is modeled by rigorous theoretical calculations. Coupling to plasmons almost completely reshapes the emission of nanotubes both spatially and with respect to polarization as compared to photoluminescence…
Surfactant-Dependent Exciton Mobility in Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Studied by Single-Molecule Reactions
2010
Measurements of stepwise photoluminescence quenching in individual, (n,m)-selected single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) undergoing chemical reaction have been analyzed to deduce mobilities of optically generated excitons. For (7,5) nanotubes, the mean exciton range varies between approximately 140 and 240 nm for different surfactant coatings and correlates weakly with nanotube PL intensity. The results are consistent with a model of localized SWCNT excitons having substantial diffusional mobility along the nanotube axis.
In situ nucleation of carbon nanotubes by the injection of carbon atoms into metal particles.
2007
The synthesis of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) of desired chiralities and diameters is one of the most important challenges in nanotube science and achieving such selectivity may require a detailed understanding of their growth mechanism. We report the formation of CNTs in an entirely condensed phase process that allows us, for the first time, to monitor the nucleation of a nanotube on the spherical surface of a metal particle. When multiwalled CNTs containing metal particle cores are irradiated with an electron beam, carbon from graphitic shells surrounding the metal particles is ingested into the body of the particle and subsequently emerges as single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs) or multiwalled nan…
Multiwalled carbon nanotube reinforced polymer composites
2008
Due to their high stiffness and strength, as well as their electrical conductivity, carbon nanotubes are under intense investigation as fillers in polymer matrix composites. The nature of the carbon nanotube/polymer bonding and the curvature of the carbon nanotubes within the polymer have arisen as particular factors in the efficacy of the carbon nanotubes to actually provide any enhanced stiffness or strength to the composite. Here the effects of carbon nanotube curvature and interface interaction with the matrix on the composite stiffness are investigated using micromechanical analysis. In particular, the effects of poor bonding and thus poor shear lag load transfer to the carbon nanotube…
Stability of carbon nanotubes under electron irradiation: Role of tube diameter and chirality
2005
As recent experiments demonstrate, the inner shells of multiwalled carbon nanotubes are more sensitive to electron irradiation than the outer shells. To understand the origin of such counterintuitive behavior, we employ a density-functional-theory based tight-binding method and calculate the displacement threshold energies for carbon atoms in single-walled nanotubes with different diameters and chiralities. We show that the displacement energy and the defect production rate strongly depend on the diameter of the nanotube and its chirality, with the displacement energy being lower, but saturating towards the value for graphite when the tube diameter increases. This implies that the threshold…
Quantum Transport and Current Distribution at Radio Frequency in Multiwall Carbon Nanotubes
2012
Multiwall carbon nanotubes represent a low-dimensional material that could serve as building blocks for future carbon-based nanoelectronics. The understanding of the electromagnetic performances at radio frequency of these materials for use in nanointerconnects is strictly related to the analysis of their transport properties as function of the working conditions. In this paper, we present an explicit expression of the conducting channels as function of diameter, temperature, doping, and supply voltage for both metallic and semiconducting carbon nanotubes. The proposed formula is based on the Dirac cone approximation of the conducting band energy of graphene nearby the Fermi points, combine…