The electronic properties of doped single walled carbon nanotubes and carbon nanotube sensors

Abstract

We present ab initio calculations on the band structure and density of states of single wall semiconducting carbon nanotubes with high degrees (up to 25%) of B, Si and N substitution. The doping process consists of two phases: different carbon nanotubes (CNTs) for a constant doping rate and different doping rates for the zigzag (8, 0) carbon nanotube. We analyze the doping dependence of nanotubes on the doping rate and the nanotube type. Using these results, we select the zigzag (8, 0) carbon nanotube for toxic gas sensor calculation and obtain the total and partial densities of states for CNT (8, 0). We have demonstrated that the CNT (8, 0) can be used as toxic gas sensors for CO and NO molecules, and it can partially detect Cl2 toxic molecules but cannot detect H2S. To overcome these restrictions, we created the B and N doped CNT (8, 0) and obtained the total and partial density of states for these structures. We also showed that B and N doped CNT (8, 0) can be used as toxic gas sensors for such molecules as CO, NO, Cl2 and H2S.

Keywords

• ab initio calculations
• carbon nanotubes structure
• gas sensors
• doping and substitution effects