Abstract
We report an application of nanoarea electron diffraction for structure determination of double-wall carbon nanotubes (DWNT) grown by catalytic chemical vapor deposition. The structures of 30 tubes were determined from experimental diffraction patterns. Among these tubes, the inner and outer wall structure of 18 tubes was precisely determined by comparison with kinematic electron diffraction simulations. For the structure of the DWNTs, our experiment revealed a mixture of semiconducting-metallic (S-M), S-S and M-M tubes. The spacing between the two walls ranges from 0.335 nm to 0.384 nm. Most DWNTs are incommensurate and chiral.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Theory predicts for a metallic tube if (n-m) = 3l (l: an integer) or a semiconducting tube for n-m ≠ 3l; see Mintmire JW, Dunlap BI, White CT (1992) Phys Rev Lett 68:631 and Saito R, Fujita M, Dresselhaus G, Dresselhaus MS (1992) Appl Phys Lett 60: 2204
Saito R, Dresselhaus G, Dresselhaus MS (1998) Physical properties of carbon nanotubes. Imperial College Press, London
Uryu S (2004) Phys Rev B 69:075402
Cumings J, Zettl A (2000) Science 289:602
Saito R, Matsuo R, Kimura T, Dresselhaus G, Dresselhaus MS (2001) Chem Phys. Lett 348:187
Jorio A, Saito R, Hafner JH, Lieber CM, Hunter M, Mcclure T, Dresselhaus G, Dresselhaus MS (2001) Phys Rev Lett 86:1118; Bachilo SM, Strano MS, Kittrell C, Hauge RH, Smalley RE, Weisman RB (2002) Science 298:2361
Gao M, Zuo JM, Twesten RD, Petrov I, Nagahara LA, Zhang R (2003) Appl Phys Lett 82:2703
Qin L-C, Iijima S, Kataura H, Maniwa Y, Suzuki S, Achiba Y (1997) Chem Phys Lett 268:101
Kociak M, Hirahara K, Suenaga K, Iijima S (2003) Euro Phys J B 32:457
Zuo JM, Vartanyants I, Gao M, Zhang R, Nagahara LA (2003) Science 300:1419
Dresselhaus MS, Dai HJ (2004) Mater Res Soc Bull 29:237
Liu Z, Zhang Q, Qin LC (2005) Appl Phys Lett 86:191903
Cassell AM, Raymakers JA, Kong J, Dai HJ (1999) Phys Chem B 103:6484
Zhang R, Tsui RK, Tresek J, Rawlett AM, Amlani I, Hopson T, Fejes P (2003) J Phys Chem B 107:3137
Zuo JM, Gao M, Tao J, Li BQ, Twesten R, Petrov I (2004) Microsc Res Techniq 64:347
Qin LC (2001) In: Zhang XF, Zhang Z (eds) Progress in transmission electron microscopy, vol 2. Springer-Verlag, Berlin
Lambin P, Lucas AA (1997) Phys Rev B 56:3571
Amelinckx S, Lucas A, Lambin P (1999) Rep Prog Phys 62:1471
The experimentally determined structure is the best model of ideal cylindrical tubes that fits the experimental diffraction pattern
We selected 30 DWNTs randomly. Among these, 12 DWNTs are slightly curved, the diffraction patterns of these tubes were not sufficiently clear to determine the chiral vectors unambiguously. For these tubes, the mean diameter and chiral angles were measured at resolutions of 3% and 0.5° respectively
Thess A, Lee R, Nikolaev P, Dai H, Petit P, Robert J, Xu C, Lee YH, Kim SG, Rinzler AG, Colbert DT, Scuseria GE, Tomanek D, Fischer JE, Smalley RE (1996) Science 273:483
Acknowledgements
Work on electron microscopy characterization is supported by DOE DEFG02-01ER45923 and DEFG02-91ER45439 and uses the TEM facility of Center for Microanalysis of Materials at FS-MRL. M.G. thanks Dr. M. Kociak for discussions.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gao, M., Zuo, J.M., Zhang, R. et al. Structure determinations of double-wall carbon nanotubes grown by catalytic chemical vapor deposition. J Mater Sci 41, 4382–4388 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-006-0146-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-006-0146-0