Ultra-Thin Double-Walled Carbon Nanotubes A Novel Nanocontainer for Preparing Atomic Wires

TL;DR

This paper reports the synthesis of ultra-thin double-walled carbon nanotubes with high graphitization, demonstrating their potential as nanocontainers for growing atomic-scale carbon chains, and explores their electron emission properties.

Contribution

It introduces ultra-thin DWCNTs as effective nanocontainers for atomic wire fabrication and characterizes their synthesis and electron emission behavior.

Findings

DWCNTs with 0.6-1.0 nm inner diameter were synthesized.

DWCNTs exhibit high electron emission current density of 1 A/cm² at 4.3 V/μm.

Long linear carbon chains can be grown inside ultra-thin DWCNTs after high-temperature treatment.

Abstract

Double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWCNTs) with high graphitization have been synthesized by hydrogen arc discharge. The obtained DWCNTs have a narrow distribution of diameters of both the inner and outer tubes, and more than half of the DWCNTs have inner diameters in the range 0.6-1.0 nm. Field electron emission from a DWCNT cathode to an anode has been measured, and the emission current density of DWCNTs reached 1 A/cm2 at an applied field of about 4.3 V/{\mu}m. After high-temperature treatment of DWCNTs, long linear carbon chains (C-chains) can be grown inside the ultra-thin DWCNTs to form a novel C-chain@DWCNT nanostructure, showing that these ultra-thin DWCNTs are an appropriate nanocontainer for preparing truly one-dimensional nanostructures with one-atom-diameter.