Low-temperature radial thermal expansion of single-walled carbon nanotube bundles saturated with nitrogen

Abstract

The effect of N2 impurity on the radial thermal expansion coefficient αr of single-walled carbon nanotube bundles has been investigated in the temperature interval 2.2–43K by the dilatometric method. Saturation of nanotube bundles with N2 sharply increased the positive values of αr in the entire experimental temperature range and resulted in a very high, wide maximum in the thermal expansion coefficient αr(T) at T∼28K. Low-temperature impurity desorption from N2-saturated powder consisting of bundles of single-walled carbon nanotubes with open and closed ends has been investigated.