Annealing of Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes an in-situ TEM study

ORAL

Abstract

1D Nanostructures in general and nanotubes in particular are often containing substantial amount of defects. The defects may are present in as grown tubes, may stem from extensive processing or being induced by electron beam. In previous reports heating above 1500C was required to anneal defects in bulk multiwalled nanotubes. In this work we report a simple procedure to anneal the tubes by passing an electrical current through suspended nanotubes in-situ inside a TEM. The experiments were performed both in a two terminal configuration as well as in free standing nanotubes attached to an in-situ nano-manipulator. As a result of local heating the defects are annealed resulting in near perfect tubular structures free of defects. In related experiments, low energy structural defects can be induced by the electrical current.

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Authors

  • Shaul Aloni

    Molecular Foundry, MSD,LBNL, Berkeley, Caifornia 94720 and Dept. of Physics, UC Berkeley, California, 94720

  • William Mickelson

    MSD,LBNL, Berkeley, Caifornia 94720 and Dept. of Physics, UC Berkeley, California, 94720

  • Brian Christopher Regan

    MSD,LBNL, Berkeley, Caifornia 94720 and Dept. of Physics, UC Berkeley, California, 94720

  • Steve Konsek

    MSD, LBNL, Berkeley, Caifornia 94720 and Dept. of Physics, UC Berkeley, California, 94720, MSD,LBNL, Berkeley, Caifornia 94720 and Dept. of Physics, UC Berkeley, California, 94720

  • Alex Zettl

    University of California, Berkeley, Department of Physics, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, UC Berkeley; Materials Sciences Division, LBNL; Berkeley, CA 94720, Physics department, University of California at Berkeley, Department of Physics, UC Berkeley, and Materials Sciences Division, LBNL, Berkeley, California 94720, Physics Department, University of California at Berkeley, and Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley CA 94720, University of California-Berkeley, MSD, LBNL, Berkeley, Caifornia 94720 and Dept. of Physics, UC Berkeley, California, 94720, MSD,LBNL, Berkeley, Caifornia 94720 and Dept. of Physics, UC Berkeley, California, 94720