Structural properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes under extreme dynamic pressures

Abstract

The structural behaviors of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) along the radial direction are critical to the cross-sectional phase transition, elastic recovery, and band structure engineering. Previous static pressure studies have established a clear picture on the structural behaviors of SWNTs that governed by the Lévy-Carrier law. But when the pressurization becomes dynamic, there lacks a fundamental understanding of the structural properties of SWNTs along the radial direction. Here, different from static (< 1 GPa/s) and shock compression (> 107 GPa/s), we gain new insights on the phase transition, recovery dynamics and energy dissipation of SWNT bundles with a median diameter of dt ∼1.4 and ∼0.8 nm under modest dynamic pressures in two common pressure mediums (4:1 methanol-ethanol mixture, silicone oil). Upon single ramp compression (ramp rate in an order of magnitude of ∼10–103 GPa/s), the lineshape and intensity changes of Raman spectra induced by the dynamic effect of hydrostatic stress are commonly observed, suggesting different structural behaviors compared with static pressure results. Unexpectedly, the pressure-induced defects are not found in cyclic ramp compressions up to 105 cycles, showing high structural stability to dynamic loading. The corresponding recovery dynamics and energy dissipation mechanism of SWNTs under varying dynamic conditions are also discussed. By analyzing the shear strain potential, distinct dynamic effects of hydrostatic pressure on the SWNTs in two pressure mediums are quantitatively unveiled.