Raman spectroscopy study of heat-treated and boron-doped double wall carbon nanotubes

We performed Raman spectroscopy experiments on undoped and boron-doped double walled carbon nanotubes (DWNTs) that exhibit the “coalescence inducing mode” as these DWNTs are heat treated to temperatures between 1200 °C and 2000 °C. The fact that boron doping promotes DWNT coalescence at lower temperatures allowed us to study in greater detail the behavior of first- and second-order Raman modes as a function of temperature with regard to the coalescence process. Furthermore, by using various excitation laser energies we probed DWNTs with different metallic (M) and semiconducting (S) inner and outer tubes. We find that regardless of their M and S configurations, the smaller diameter nanotubes disappear at a faster rate than their larger diameter counterparts as the heat treatment temperature is increased. We also observe that the frequency of the G band is mostly determined by the diameter of the semiconducting layer of those DWNTs that are in resonance with the laser excitation energy. Finally, we explain the contributions to the G′ band from the inner and outer layers of a DWNT.NSF/DMRMinistry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of JapanFondo Mixto de PueblaSALUD-CONACYTMIT-CONACYTInter American CollaborationCONACYT Mexic

Nitrogen Substitution and Vacancy Mediated Scandium Metal Adsorption on Carbon Nanotubes

First-principle calculation reveals that N containing carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can support the functionalization of transition metals such as Sc on the CNT surface. For N-substituted CNTs without a vacancy, the enhanced adsorption results from large electron affinity difference of the N adjacent to C atom. In this case, the N atom activates nearby C atom and enhances its interaction with the Sc metal on the CNT surface. Meanwhile, the formation of a vacancy in CNTs causes local reconstruction of the surface near the vacancy site. Simulation and analysis show that vacancy mediated N substitution is a more favored scheme for Sc functionalization on the surface of CNTs that suppresses the clustering of Sc. The enhanced Sc adsorption in N-doped CNTs with mono- and di-vacancy defects was attributed to strong hybridization between the Scandium d orbital and nitrogen p orbital. The results explain theoretically the mechanism of enhanced functionalization of metals on N doped CNTs and suggests that Sc functionalized nitrogen doped CNTs with vacancies is an excellent candidate for the adsorption of small molecules

On the origin of the high capacitance of nitrogen-containing carbon nanotubes in acidic and alkaline electrolytes

The synthesis of nitrogenated carbon nanotubes (N-CNTs) with up to 6.1 wt% N, via the use of pyridine as the nitrogen containing carbon precursor, can provide a facile route to significantly enhance the low intrinsic specific capacitance of carbon nanotubes. The nitrogen functionalities determine this, at least, five-fold increase of the specific capacitance