The impact of ion beams and thermal annealing on the structure and electrophysical properties of individual multi-walled carbon nanotubes and their ensembles

Abstract

The effect of irradiation with argon ions and thermal treatments on the formation of a defect structure and the electrophysical properties of multilayer carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) is studied. The methods of transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and electrophysical measurements establish the formation of stable topological defects, which determine a sharp decrease in the conductivity of MWCNT after irradiation and thermal annealing. The possibility of using a set of ion irradiation and temperature annealing methods to change the conductivity of nanotubes is shown.

Keywords

• functionalization of carbon nanotubes
• carbon nanotubes
• ion irradiations
• thermal annealing
• transmission electron microscopy
• raman spectroscopy
• density functional theory