Mechanical Twisting of Individual Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes: Structural Characterization by Simulations of X-Ray Diffraction

摘要

We report on the effect of mechanical twisting of individual single-walled carbon nanotubes. We apply an X-ray diffraction simulation to several individual single carbon nanotubes with different chiralities. The electronic structures of carbon nanotubes depend sensitively on the mechanical twisting levels; therefore, X-ray diffraction is a powerful tool for highlighting structural modifications in carbon nanotubes. Structural modifications produce differences in the X-ray diffraction profiles. We compared the X-ray diffraction profiles of untwisted nanotubes with those of nanotubes twisted at different twisting angles.