Effects of Microwave Irradiation on Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes of Different Diameters

TL;DR

This study investigates how microwave irradiation affects multi-walled carbon nanotubes of different diameters, revealing emission characteristics and potential applications in lighting technologies without damaging the nanotubes.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the emission behavior of multi-walled carbon nanotubes under microwave exposure and their stability, highlighting their potential for lighting applications.

Findings

Larger diameter nanotubes emit more intense radiation.

Microwave irradiation does not increase defect density.

Emission persists over multiple irradiation cycles.

Abstract

We have studied the visible and infrared radiation emitted by multi-walled carbon nano-tubes of different diameters when exposed to 2.45 GHz microwaves. A comparison of the spectra suggests that multi-walled carbon nano-tubes with larger diameters emit radiation of greater intensity than those with smaller diameters. Furthermore, the multi-walled carbon nano-tubes continued to emit visible and infrared radiation over the course of several microwave-irradiation cycles, with no degradation in the intensity of the emitted radiation. A comparison of Raman D- to G-band peak-intensity ratios revealed that microwave-irradiation did not significantly impact the multi-walled carbon nano-tubes' defect densities. The results of our experiments suggest that multi-walled carbon nano-tubes may have the potential for use in lighting technologies, and that ohmic heating caused by the polarization of the multi-walled carbon nano-tubes in the microwave field is likely responsible for the observed emissions of visible and infrared radiation.