Diameter dependent doping in horizontally aligned high-density N-doped SWNT arrays

Abstract

We reported the growth of horizontally aligned nitrogen-doped single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) on quartz substrates. The synthesized SWNTs were comprehensively characterized at the single nanotube level. Owing to the highly aligned nature of the nanotubes, we were able to investigate the diameter dependent doping mechanism through systematic resonant Raman spectroscopy studies. Other than the formerly found narrowing effect by N-doping, we proposed that the nanotube diameter affects the introduction of N atoms into the carbon lattice in an elaborate way. The obtained doping level increased along with the nanotube diameter but lost the increasing trend when the diameter became larger and experienced a slight decrease after reaching the local peak value. These insights about the heteroatom doping into the carbon nanotubes could benefit the development of the carbon nanotube based functional materials and extend their application in a broad range of areas.