AVS 52nd International Symposium
    Nanometer-Scale Science and Technology Friday Sessions
       Session NS-FrM

Paper NS-FrM7
Microstructural Modifications of Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes by keV Ar@super +@ Bombardment: a High Resolution TEM Study

Friday, November 4, 2005, 10:20 am, Room 210

Session: Nanotube Processing and Properties
Presenter: D.-Q. Yang, Ecole Polytechnique of Montreal, Canada
Authors: D.-Q. Yang, Ecole Polytechnique of Montreal, Canada
E. Sacher, Ecole Polytechnique of Montreal, Canada
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The surface functionalization and microstructural modification of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have both attracted great interesting because of their potential applications to microelectronic devices and advanced functional CNT-based materials. One functionalization method is to break C-C bonds with keV Ar+ treatment, thus producing highly localized amorphous regions containing free radicals capable of further reaction. Such treatment of NTs has recently been found capable of changing the electronic properties and enhancing the field emission of multiwalled CNTs (MWCNTs). To better understand the interaction between the ion beam and CNTs, we have studied their microstructural evolution, under keV Ar+ beam irradiation, by high resolution TEM. We found that Ar+ treatment doses from 1013 to 1015 ions/cm2 produce free radical defects, an amorphous layer, as well as nanonodules that continue to grow and, on contacting another such growing nodule, crosslink the nanotubes. We discuss the formation mechanism of these microstructural modifications.