Open AccessNew observations for electron beam-induced instability of single-wall carbon nanotube
Author(s) -
Lunxiong Li,
Jiangbin Su,
Yongjin Wu,
Zhu Xian-Fang,
Zhanguo Wang
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
wuli xuebao
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.199
H-Index - 47
ISSN - 1000-3290
DOI - 10.7498/aps.61.036401
Subject(s) - carbon nanotube , materials science , irradiation , instability , electron beam processing , cathode ray , electron , transmission electron microscopy , molecular physics , beam (structure) , rope , carbon fibers , nanotechnology , atomic physics , composite material , optics , mechanics , physics , composite number , nuclear physics , structural engineering , engineering , quantum mechanics
The nanoinstability of single-wall carbon nanotubes(SWCNT) under electron beam irradiation is systematically investigated by in-situ transmission electron microscopie observation at room temperature. Under the same irradiation condition, it is found that with the increasre irradiation time(or electron dose), the SWCNT whose two ends are fixed at ropes of nanotubes shrinks in its radial direction with an increasingly faster rate; the curved SWCNT is more instable than the straight one with a the same diameter; the SWCNT with a free capped end but the other end fixed at a rope of nanotubes shrinks in the axial direction but almost keeps its diameter unchanged. All experimental phenomena could be well accounted for by new concepts of vaporing and diffusing of carbon atoms as strongly driven by the nanocurvature of SWCNT as well as by the electron beam-induced athermal activation.