Scanning tunnelling microscopy of carbon nanotubes

This paper briefly reviews how scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) and spectroscopy (STS) are used to analyse the atomic structure and the electronic properties of individual single-wall carbon nanotubes. In this area, the progress accomplished over the past several years has been spectacular. As this paper demonstrates, all the effects predicted by theory have been verified experimentally. Geometrical and electronic effects specific to carbon nanotubes are illustrated by analysing a series of STM images and STS spectra computed using a tight-binding theory. The simulations include a catalogue of images of 27 single-wall nanotubes, Stone-Wales defects in semiconducting nanotubes, and a symmetric Y-junction.     

A biocompatible chitosan composite containing phosphotungstic acid modified single-walled carbon nanotubes

Surface modification of carbon nanotubes is crucial for the dispersion and interfacial adhesion of carbon nanotubes in polymer composites. Here we present a novel method to construct single-walled carbon nanotube/chitosan composites using phosphotungstic acid as an anchor reagent to modify single-walled carbon nanotubes. The most direct benefit from this method is that this modification is mild but effective: the induced defects on single-walled carbon nanotubes are negligible based on Raman and transmission electron microscopy observations; and homogeneous dispersion of single-walled carbon nanotubes in chitosan matrices and strong binding between single-walled carbon nanotubes and chitosan are achieved. Moreover, according to the results of tetrazolium-based colorimetric assays in vitro, we demonstrate that the produced phosphotungstic-acid-modified single-walled carbon nanotube/chitosan composites have good biocompatibility. Thus, our study provides a feasible route to fabricate biocompatible composites containing single-walled carbon nanotubes for potential application in bone tissue engineering.     

Scanning electron microscope observation of the purification behaviour of carbon nanotubes

Carbon nanotubes, with their unique structure, are expected to have a variety of applications as industrial materials. However, carbon nanotubes synthesized using the laser ablation method or arc discharge evaporation method always include other carbonaceous materials. Purification is a very important step in the use of carbon nanotubes as industrial materials. For the efficient recovery of nanotubes it is very important to clarify the gasification behaviour of the nanotube-containing material during the purification step. In this study, the gasification behaviour of a nanotube-containing material with various gasification agents was investigated in detail using a fixed-point observation technique and scanning electron microscopy. The gasification manner of the carbon nanotube-containing material was clarified using oxygen, carbon dioxide and hydrogen plasma as the gasifying agents. The gasification behaviour of the sample depended on the kind of reactant gas. In hydrogen plasma, carbon nanotubes were partly purified. Under the experimental conditions examined, oxygen gasification at 1023 K was the most effective method for purification of carbon nanotubes, and nanotubes were recovered selectively.     

A study of carbon-nanotube-based nanoelectromechanical resonators tuned by shear strain

This paper has investigated, using a classical molecular dynamics simulation method based on the Tersoff-Brenner potential, the resonance-frequency changes of single-walled carbon-nanotube resonators originating from the purely mechanical response of single-walled carbon nanotubes. The tension decreased with increasing rotation angle, so the resonance frequencies could be changed by controlling the rotation angles of the single-walled carbon nanotubes. The resonance frequencies decreased with increasing angle, and when the rotation angle was greater than 60°, the changes were marked. For nanotubes of similar length, the bandwidth for the (3, 3) single-walled carbon nanotube was higher than for the (5, 0) single-walled carbon nanotube. Because properties arising from the shear-strain-induced tension response can affect the electromechanical behavior of carbon nanotubes, the shear-strain-induced tension response should be given serious consideration in the application of embedded carbon nanotubes in nanoelectromechanical systems.     

碳源对碳纳米管形态的影响

以苯和甲苯为碳源,二茂铁为催化剂,含硫化合物为助催化剂,采用浮游催化裂解法制备了碳纳米管,并采用TEM对不同条件下所得碳纳米管进行了形态分析。结果发现,碳源中苯和甲苯的配比对碳纳米管的形态有着重要的影响。以纯苯为碳源时,产物主要为直线型碳纳米管,并存在极少量短的弯曲型碳纳米管。随着碳源中甲苯比例的增加,产物中折线型碳纳米管增加。以纯甲苯为碳源,产物中仍有少量直线型碳纳米管,而不完全是折线型碳纳米管;此外,产物中还发现了极少量分支型碳纳米管。根据所得结果讨论分析了甲苯的加入对碳纳米管形态的影响以及各种碳纳米管的形成机理,认为可能是由于甲苯在催化热解过程中产生的碳种不同于苯催化热解所产生的碳种,造成碳在催化剂颗粒各处浓度不同,从而在碳纳米管的不同部位引入五元环和七元环而形成各种形态的碳纳米管。     

选择冲洗法在碳纳米管内部填充金属粒子

报道一种直接合成纳米碳管衍生材料的方法.利用纳米碳管的表面张力和毛细管作用,经过注入和选择冲洗法的两步法,制备填充铁、钴和镍的纳米碳管.通过选择合适的注入和洗脱溶液,金属粒子只会填充在纳米管内部.使用扫描电镜和扫描透射电镜研究证实金属粒子仅存在于纳米碳管内部.     

Dispersion and solubilization of carbon nanotubes

Carbon nanotubes are generally insoluble in any solvents, resulting in their poor processability for many proposed potential applications. Several strategies have been developed to introduce carbon nanotubes into solvent systems, including dispersion and suspension under special experimental conditions and the chemical modification and functionalization. The well-dispersed and solubilized carbon nanotubes make it possible to characterize and study the carbon nanotubes by using solution-based techniques, to realize some of the unique properties of the nanotubes, and to carry out further chemical transformations. In this review, recent development in the experimental methods for the dispersion and solubilization of carbon nanotubes will be summarized and discussed.     

Hydrogen-acetylene gas ratio and catalyst thickness effect on the growth of uniform layer of carbon nanotubes

Effect of catalyst thickness (2, 4, and 6 nm) and acetylene-hydrogen gas ratio (1/4, 2/4, and 3/4) on the synthesis of carbon nanotubes is reported in this article. Synthesized nanotubes are characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy, and Raman effect. From SEM results, nanotubes growth is less for higher thickness, as at higher thickness catalyst nanoparticles agglomerate which suppress the growth of nanotubes. Raman spectroscopy results reveal that at higher thickness defects density increases. Nanotube of better crystallinity and graphitic outer walls grows for lower acetylene-hydrogen gas ratio and at smaller thickness of catalyst layer. The sheet resistance of carbon nanotube thin film is measured by using Hall effect measurement systems. Smallest sheet resistance among synthesized multi-walled carbon nanotubes sample is obtained for nanotubes grown on 2 nm thick catalyst film and is 0.9 kΩ/square.     

In Vivo NIR Fluorescence Imaging,Biodistribution, and Toxicology of Photoluminescent Carbon Dots Produced from Carbon Nanotubes and Graphite

Oxidization of carbon nanotubes by a mixed acid has been utilized as a standard method to functionalize carbon nanomaterials for years. Here, the products obtained from carbon nanotubes and graphite after a mixed‐acid treatment are carefully studied. Nearly identical carbon dot (Cdot) products with diameters of 3–4 nm are produced using this approach from a variety of carbon starting materials, including single‐walled carbon nanotubes, multiwalled carbon nanotubes, and graphite. These Cdots exhibit strong yellow fluorescence under UV irradiation and shifted emission peaks as the excitation wavelength is changed. In vivo fluorescence imaging with Cdots is then demonstrated in mouse experiments, by using varied excitation wavelengths including some in the near‐infrared (NIR) region. Furthermore, in vivo biodistribution and toxicology of those Cdots in mice over different periods of time are studied; no noticeable signs of toxicity for Cdots to the treated animals are discovered. This work provides a facile method to synthesize Cdots as safe non‐heavy‐metal‐containing fluorescent nanoprobes, promising for applications in biomedical imaging.     

Analysis of elastic properties of carbon nanotube reinforced nanocomposites with pinhole defects

Due to their unique molecular structure, carbon nanotubes exhibit outstanding properties. They are regarded as ideal reinforcements of composites. In this paper, the effects of pinhole defects on mechanical properties are investigated for wavy carbon nanotubes based nanocomposites using 3-D Representative Volume Element with long carbon nanotubes. The carbon nanotubes are modeled as continuum hollow cylindrical shape elastic material with pinholes, having some curvature in its shape. These defects are considered on the single walled carbon nanotubes. The mechanical properties like Young’s modulus of elasticity are evaluated for various values of waviness index, as well as type and number of pinhole defects. The effects of interactions between both defects as well as their influence on the nanocomposites are studied under an axial loading condition. Numerical equations are used to extract the effective material properties for the different geometries of Representative Volume Elements with non-defective carbon nanotubes. The finite element method results obtained for non-defective carbon nanotubes are consistent with analytical results for cylindrical Representative Volume Elements, which validate the proposed model. It is observed that the presence of pinhole defects as well as waviness, can significantly reduces the effective reinforcement, when compared with nanotubes without pinhole defects and this reinforcement decreases with the increase of the number of pinhole defects.     

失效AB5型贮氢合金电极材料在制备纳米碳管中的应用

纳米碳管是一种性能优异的新型功能材料.利用循环失效后的AB5型贮氢合金电极材料作为反应催化剂、乙炔气体作为原料气体通过CVD法制备出多壁纳米碳管,研究了经过破碎、清洗、氧化处理后的失效AB5型贮氢合金电极材料在合成纳米碳管中的催化性能,讨论了不同氧化温度处理催化剂对纳米碳管产率、形貌和结构稳定性的影响.结果表明,氧化处理温度对催化剂的催化效能有明显的影响,600℃为最佳氧化处理温度.以氧化处理后的失效AB5型贮氢合金电极材料作为催化剂制备碳纳米管,方法简单易行,为废旧镍氢电池负极材料的回收再利用提供了一种新的思路.     

Controlled growth of carbon nanotubes

Carbon nanotubes have extraordinary mechanical and electronic properties and hold great promise for future applications. The most important aspects of this structure are its low density, high aspect ratio, one dimensionality, high mechanical strength and high electrical and thermal conductivity. We present a short, state-of-the-art account of tailored nanotube growth. To provide these properties in real devices there exists a need for producing nanotubes on substrates. The challenge in the creation of mesoscale nanotube-based architectures and tailored nanotube networks consisting of thousands of tubes in a predefined order is obviously great. Currently, chemical vapour deposition (CVD) appears to be the most powerful method for achieving such required structures. We describe our work on a new synthesis method, based on catalytic CVD using mainly gas-phase catalyst delivery. Gas-phase catalyst delivery allows us to assemble single-walled and multi-walled carbon nanotubes in predetermined multiple orientations on substrates to build one- to three-dimensional architectures. We are able to control, to a large extent, the types of nanotubes produced, their lengths, locations and their orientations. The ability to make mesoscale architectures with nanotubes should lead us to develop applications in areas such as nano-electromechanical systems.     

The concept of cutting lines in carbon nanotube science

A review is presented of one-dimensional cutting lines that are utilized to obtain the physical properties of carbon nanotubes from the corresponding properties of graphite by the zone-folding scheme. Quantization effects in general low-dimensional systems are briefly discussed, followed by a more detailed consideration of one-dimensional single-wall carbon nanotubes. The geometrical structure of the nanotube is described, from which quantum confined states are constructed. These allowed states in the momentum space of graphite are known as cutting lines. Different representations of the cutting lines in momentum space are introduced. Electronic and phonon dispersion relations for nanotubes are derived by using cutting lines and the zone-folding scheme. The relation between cutting lines and singularities in the electronic density of states is considered. The selection rules for carbon nanotubes are shown to be directly connected with the cutting lines. Different experimental techniques are considered that confirm the validity of cutting lines and the zone-folding approach.     

纳米碳管电化学储氢的研究进展

纳米碳管的储氢是近年来纳米碳管领域研究的一个热点。纳米碳管储氢研究有两种方法，一种是气相法，另一种是电化学法。本文对纳米碳管电化学储氢的基本原理、纳米碳管电化学储氢的理论计算以及氢与纳米碳管的相互作用机制，特别是目前单壁和多壁纳米碳管电化学储氢的实验研究进展进行了综述，展望了利用其电化学储氢特性作为高性能电池的可能性。     

Effect of filling on the compressibility of carbon nanotubes: predictions from molecular dynamics simulations

The compressibility of filled and empty (10, 10) carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is examined using classical molecular dynamics simulations. The filled nanotubes contain C60, CH4, Ne, n-C4H10, and n-C4H7 molecules that are covalently cross-linked to the inner CNT walls. In addition, nanotubes filled with either a hydrogen-terminated carbon nanowire or a carbon nanotube of comparable diameter is also considered. The forces on the atoms are calculated using a many-body reactive empirical bond-order potential and the adaptive intermolecular reactive empirical bond-order potential for hydrocarbons. The butane-filled system shows a unique yielding behavior prior to buckling that has not been observed previously. Cross-linking the molecules to the inner CNT walls is not predicted to affect the stiffness of the filled nanotube systems and removes the yielding response. The mechanical response of the nanowire filled CNT is remarkably similar to the response of the similarly sized multiwalled CNT.     

Carbon nanotubes grafted on silicon oxide nanowires

In this article, we report the grafting of multi-walled carbon nanotubes on silica nanowires by directly growing nanotubes on the surfaces of the nanowires via chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using ferrocene and xylene as Fe catalyst precursor and carbon source, respectively. The grafted carbon nanotubes are a few micrometers long with diameters of 10 to approximately 30 nm, and grow uniformly along the lengths of the nanowires. The distribution density of the grafted carbon nanotubes on the silica nanowires can be tuned by simply adjusting the CVD growth temperature. Our method provides a simple approach for synthesizing nanometer scale grafted heterostructures between nanotubes and nanowires, which could be used to design and construct high-performance filters, chemical sensors and reinforced composites.     

Advances in Bioapplications of Carbon Nanotubes

This progress report provides an overview on recent advances in bioapplications of carbon nanotubes including the chemical modification of carbon nanotubes, targeting specifically their covalent and noncovalent conjugations with a variety of biological and bioactive species (proteins and peptides, DNAs/RNAs, and carbohydrates). Furthermore, the significant recent development and progress in the use of carbon nanotubes for biosensors, drug and other delivery systems, bioimaging, etc. and in the understanding of in vivo biodistribution and toxicity of carbon nanotubes are reported.     

基于碳纳米管的三维编织复合材料健康监测技术

分析了三维编织复合材料试件结构健康监测技术现状,结合三维编织复合材料编织工艺,提出了碳纳米管在三维编织复合材料试件健康监测方面的应用方法。结果说明碳纳米管应用于三维编织复合材料整体结构监测是可行的。碳纳米管传感器在三维编织复合材料试件结构健康监测中具有优异的应变传感特性,且嵌入的碳纳米管传感器对复合材料的力学性能影响不大。这为内置碳纳米管传感器应用于复合材料制件的健康检测提供了一种新的综合和分布式技术,为先进智能复合材料的研发与应用提供了依据。     

Superhydrophobic carbon nanotube/silicon carbide nanowire nanocomposites

The composite film of carbon nanotubes and silicon carbide nanowires was synthesized directly on the silicon substrate by the catalyst-assisted method. The carbon nanotubes crimped together decorated with silicon carbide nanowires covering the whole substrate. The appropriate amount of aluminum powders is a crucial factor to achieve the composite film. The composite film exhibited excellent intrinsic superhydrophobicity without any further functionalization. By using the nano/micropillar composite structure model, the presence of silicon carbide nanowires is found to be the key factor that results in the superhydrophobicity of the films. The feasible synthesis of the superhydrophobic coating could have potential application in water-repelling devices, like biochemical sensors and microfluidic systems.     

Coating and filling of carbon nanotubes with homogeneous magnetic nanoparticles

Magnetic multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) composites were obtained by decoration of metal oxide nanoparticles on or in carbon nanotubes. The method involved the dispersion of the carbon nanotubes in iron pentacarbonyl Fe(CO)₅ followed by vacuum thermolysis and subsequent oxidation. The magnetic iron oxide particle deposition was always homogeneous and could be controlled selectively on the outer, inner, or both surfaces of MWCNTs by using different MWCNTs. Since the hollow channels remained intact, these MWCNT based composites could find special applications in cellular delivery systems.