Closed-edged graphene nanoribbons from large-diameter collapsed nanotubes.

Zhang, Chenguang; Bets, Ksenia; Lee, Seung Soo; Sun, Zhengzong; Mirri, Francesca; Colvin, Vicki L; Yakobson, Boris I; Tour, James M et al. · ACS Nano · 2012

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

The diameter dependence of the collapse of single- and double-walled carbon nanotubes to two- and four-walled graphene nanoribbons with closed edges (CE(x)GNRs) has been experimentally determined and compared to theory. TEM and AFM were used to characterize nanotubes grown from preformed 4.0 nm diameter aluminum-iron oxide particles. Experimental data indicate that the energy equivalence point (the diameter at which the energy of a round and fully collapsed nanotube is the same) is 2.6 and 4.0 nm for single- and double-walled carbon nanotubes, respectively. Molecular dynamics simulations predict similar energy equivalence diameters with the use of ε = 54 meV/pair to calculate the carbon-carbon van der Waals interaction.