“A viable way to taylor carbon nanomaterials by irradiation-induced transformations”

R. CAUDILLO, H.E.TROIANI, MARIO MIKI-YOSHIDA, MIGUEL MARQUES , ANGEL RUBIO AND MIGUEL JOSE YACAMAN

RADIATION PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY (OXFORD)

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Año: 2005 vol. 73 p. 334 - 339

0969-806X

Since the discovery of carbon nanotubes (CNT), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has been the most important tool in their investigation. It is possible to use electron irradiation in a TEM to construct a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) from an amorphous carbon film. Here we show that such a synthesis method creates a large number of carbon ad-atoms, which after some critical amount of radiation act to restore the system by reconstructing the carbon film. The behavior of the ad-atoms can be controlled by adjusting the current density in the microscope, suggesting that carbon nanomaterials can be tailored by electron irradiation.