Growth of Ag nanocrystals on multiwalled carbon nanotubes and Ag-carbon nanotube interaction

The experimental investigations on the interaction between Ag-nanocrystal particles (Ag-NCPs) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in Ag-nanocrystal particles/carbon nanotubes (Ag-NCPs/CNTs) hybrid structures were reported. The growth of Ag-NCPs on multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) was carried out by thermal evaporation deposition. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analyses revealed that Ag-NCPs had the crystal lattice feature of face-centered cube (fcc). The growth of Ag-NCPs on MWCNTs induced the cross-section deformation of MWCNT. The experimental results also showed that the synthesized Ag-NCPs/CNTs hybrid structure appeared as quasi-one dimensional nanowires containing the Ag-NCP/CNT hetero-junction. There was local cross-section deformation on MWCNTs at the interface of hetero-junction. These results involve the important topic about fundamental and practical studies for structure of MNCPs on CNTs and also find clues to further research of Ag nanocrystal growing on MWCNTs and related Ag-CNT interaction.