Size Effects in Carbon Nanotubes

C.-H. Kiang; M. Endo; P. M. Ajayan; G. Dresselhaus; M. S. Dresselhaus

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.81.1869

Size Effects in Carbon Nanotubes

C.-H. Kiang, M. Endo, P. M. Ajayan, G. Dresselhaus, and M. S. Dresselhaus

Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 1869 – Published 31 August 1998

Abstract

The intershell spacing of multi-walled carbon nanotubes was determined by analyzing the high resolution transmission electron microscopy images of these nanotubes. For the nanotubes that were studied, the intershell spacing ${\hat{d}}_{002}$ is found to range from 0.34 to 0.39 nm, increasing with decreasing tube diameter. A model based on the results from real space image analysis is used to explain the variation in intershell spacings obtained from reciprocal space periodicity analysis. The increase in intershell spacing with decreased nanotube diameter is attributed to the high curvature, resulting in an increased repulsive force, associated with the decreased diameter of the nanotube shells.

Received 21 May 1998

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.81.1869

Authors & Affiliations

C.-H. Kiang¹, M. Endo², P. M. Ajayan³, G. Dresselhaus⁴, and M. S. Dresselhaus⁵

¹Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095
²Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Shinshu University, Nagano 380, Japan
³Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York 12180
⁴Francis Bitter Magnet Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139
⁵Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139