Physics of carbon nanotubes

The wetting and capillarity of carbon nanotubes were studied in detail here. Nanotubes are not "super-straws," although they can be wet and filled by substances having low surface tension, such as sulfur, selenium, and cesium, with an upper limit to this tension less than 200 millinewtons per meter. This limit implies that typical pure metals will not be drawn into the inner cavity of nanotubes through capillarity, whereas water and organic solvents will. These results have important implications for the further use of carbon nanotubes in experiments on a nanometer scale.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/265/5180/1850.full.pdf

Capillarity and Wetting of Carbon Nanotubes

Vibrational modes of carbon nanotubes; Spectroscopy and theory

Opening and purification of carbon nanotubes in high yields

We review the present state of understanding of the structure, growth and properties of nanometre-size tubes of carbon. Two different types of carbon nanotubes, namely single-shell nanotubes made of single layers of graphene cylinders and multishell nanotubes made of concentric cylinders of graphene layers have now become available. The subtle structure parameters such as helicity in the carbon network and the nanometre diameters give the nanotubes a rich variety in physical properties. Recent experimental progress on the measurements of properties using electron-energy loss spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, electron-spin resonance, electrical conductance, mechanical stiffness and theoretical predictions on electronic and mechanical properties of nanotubes will be discussed. In addition to synthesis techniques, methods to purify and make aligned arrays of nanotubes will be described. Different approaches for fabricating composite structures using nanotubes as moulds and templates and their future implications in materials science will be evaluated. Finally, promising areas of future applications, for example as tiny field-emitting devices, micro-electrodes, nanoprobes and hydrogen storage material will be outlined.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0034-4885/60/10/001/pdf

S. Matsui

Papers

Patterns in the bulk growth of carbon nanotubes