Multi-walled carbon nanotubes under protons beam irradiation

Abstract

We report effects of 70-keV protons irradiation on structure of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) in a wide range of irradiation doses and temperatures. It is found that graphite phase of MWCNTs structure can be transformed to amorphous phase in a highly controlled fashion at the temperature of 650K. Moreover, at the temperature of 800K, experiments have demonstrated that proton irradiation can create molecular junctions between parallel MWCNTs. The structural stability of MWCNTs at 950K is also discussed.