Silver filled single-wall carbon nanotubes—synthesis, structural and electronicproperties

Abstract

In our study we use methodology based on a wet chemistry process to fill single-wall carbonnanotubes (SWCNTs) with silver nanowires. The novelty of the study comes from longcontinuous silver nanowires incorporated in a SWCNT with a mean diameter of 1.22 nm.Using high resolution transmission electron microscopy and electron diffraction we evidencethe formation of 100–250 nm long silver wires within SWCNTs. The electronic structure ofAg-SWCNTs is presented in comparison to the corresponding reference purified SWCNTsusing electron energy-loss spectroscopy in transmission. The structural changes and thevariation of the electronic properties are analysed with electron diffraction and thecore-level excitations.