Reinforcing multiwall carbon nanotubes by electron beam irradiation

Journal Article · Fri Oct 15 04:00:00 EDT 2010 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3493049· OSTI ID:21476563

Duchamp, Martial; Meunier, Richard; Smajda, Rita; Mionic, Marijana; Forro, Laszlo ^[1]; Magrez, Arnaud ^[1]; Seo, Jin Won ^[2]; Song, Bo ^[3]; Tomanek, David ^[4]

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1. Laboratoire de Nanostructures et Nouveaux Materiaux Electroniques (LNNME), Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), 1015 Lausanne (Switzerland)
2. Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 44, 3001 Heverlee (Belgium)
3. Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 800-204, Shanghai 201800 (China)
4. Centre Europeen de Calcul Atomique et Moleculaire (CECAM), Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), 1015 Lausanne (Switzerland)

We study the effect of electron beam irradiation on the bending modulus of multiwall carbon nanotubes grown by chemical vapor deposition. Atomic force microscopy observations of the nanotube deflection in the suspended-beam geometry suggest an internal, reversible stick-slip motion prior to irradiation, indicating presence of extended defects. Upon electron beam irradiation, nanotubes with an initial bending modulus exceeding 10 GPa initially get stiffer, before softening at high doses. Highly defective nanotubes with smaller initial bending moduli do not exhibit the initial reinforcement. These data are explained by ab initio molecular dynamics calculations suggesting a spontaneous cross-linking of neighboring nanotube walls at extended vacancy defects created by the electron beam, in agreement with electron microscopy observations. At low defect concentration, depending on the edge morphology, the covalent bonds between neighboring nanotube walls cause reinforcement by resisting relative motion of neighboring walls. At high concentration of defects that are present initially or induced by high electron beam dose, the structural integrity of the entire system suffers from increasing electron beam damage.

• OSTI ID: 21476563
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 108; ISSN JAPIAU; ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY
BEAMS
BENDING
CALCULATION METHODS
CARBON
CHEMICAL BONDS
CHEMICAL COATING
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION
CROSS-LINKING
CRYSTAL DEFECTS
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
DEFORMATION
DEPOSITION
ELECTRON BEAMS
ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
ELEMENTS
IRRADIATION
LEPTON BEAMS
MICROSCOPY
MOLECULAR DYNAMICS METHOD
MORPHOLOGY
NANOSTRUCTURES
NANOTUBES
NONMETALS
PARTICLE BEAMS
PHYSICAL RADIATION EFFECTS
POINT DEFECTS
POLYMERIZATION
PRESSURE RANGE
PRESSURE RANGE GIGA PA
RADIATION EFFECTS
SLIP
SURFACE COATING
VACANCIES