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Title: Electric current distribution of a multiwall carbon nanotube

Journal Article · · AIP Advances
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4959907· OSTI ID:22611450
;  [1];  [2]
  1. Department of Physics, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan (China)
  2. Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan (China)

The electric current distribution in a multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) was studied by in situ measuring the electric potential along an individual MWCNT in the ultra-high vacuum transmission electron microscope (TEM). The current induced voltage drop along each section of a side-bonded MWCNT was measured by a potentiometric probe in TEM. We have quantitatively derived that the current on the outermost shell depends on the applied current and the shell diameter. More proportion of the total electronic carriers hop into the inner shells when the applied current is increased. The larger a MWCNT’s diameter is, the easier the electronic carriers can hop into the inner shells. We observed that, for an 8 nm MWCNT with 10 μA current applied, 99% of the total current was distributed on the outer two shells.

OSTI ID:
22611450
Journal Information:
AIP Advances, Vol. 6, Issue 7; Other Information: (c) 2016 Author(s); Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2158-3226
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English