Atom Collision-Induced Resistivity of Carbon Nanotubes
Hugo E. Romero,1
Kim Bolton,3
Arne Rosén,3
Peter C. Eklund1,2*
We report the observation of unusually strong and systematic
changes in the electron transport in metallic single-walled
carbon nanotubes that are undergoing collisions with inert gas
atoms or small molecules. At fixed gas temperature and pressure,
changes in the resistance and thermopower of thin films are
observed that scale as roughly
M1/3, where
M is the mass of
the colliding gas species (He, Ar, Ne, Kr, Xe, CH
4, and N
2).
Results of molecular dynamics simulations are also presented
that show that the maximum deformation of the tube wall upon
collision and the total energy transfer between the colliding
atom and the nanotube also exhibit a roughly
M1/3 dependence.
It appears that the transient deformation (or dent) in the tube
wall may provide a previously unknown scattering mechanism needed
to explain the atom collision–induced changes in the electrical
transport.
2 Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
3 Department of Experimental Physics, School of Physics and Engineering Physics, Göteborg University and Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96, Göteborg, Sweden.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: pce3{at}psu.edu
