Abstract
The electric current distribution in a multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) was studied by in situ measuring the electric potential along an individual MWCNT in the ultra-high vacuum transmission electron microscope (TEM). The current induced voltage drop along each section of a side-bonded MWCNT was measured by a potentiometric probe in TEM. We have quantitatively derived that the current on the outermost shell depends on the applied current and the shell diameter. More proportion of the total electronic carriers hop into the inner shells when the applied current is increased. The larger a MWCNT’s diameter is, the easier the electronic carriers can hop into the inner shells. We observed that, for an 8 nm MWCNT with 10 μA current applied, 99% of the total current was distributed on the outer two shells.
Highlights
The current transport through a carbon nanotube has attracted much attention during the past years
The voltage drop (1.55 V/μm) is divided by the resistance per unit length (197.5 Ω/nm), and the current carried by the outermost shell at these three sections is 7.85 μA
We report a method to probe the current induced voltage drop along multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) inside the UHV-transmission electron microscope (TEM)
Summary
The current transport through a carbon nanotube has attracted much attention during the past years. Most studies have focused on a single-wall carbon nanotube due to its simplicity of having only one shell, and special attention has been paid to its ballistic transport at room temperature.[1,2,3] The mechanism of electron transport through a MWCNT should be more complex, considering its cylindrical structure that is composed of several graphene layers. These weakly coupled and normally incommensurate concentric shells are separated by ∼3.4 angstroms. The current carried by the outermost shell of a MWCNT was found being modulated by its tube diameter and the applied current
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