Electronic structure of atomically resolved carbon nanotubes

Jeroen W. G. Wilder, Liesbeth C. Venema, Andrew G. Rinzler, Richard E. Smalley and Cees Dekker ()
Additional contact information
Jeroen W. G. Wilder: Delft University of Technology
Liesbeth C. Venema: Delft University of Technology
Andrew G. Rinzler: Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, Rice Quantum Institute, MS-100, Rice University
Richard E. Smalley: Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, Rice Quantum Institute, MS-100, Rice University
Cees Dekker: Delft University of Technology

Nature, 1998, vol. 391, issue 6662, 59-62

Abstract: Abstract Carbon nanotubes can be thought of as graphitic sheets with a hexagonal lattice that have been wrapped up into a seamless cylinder. Since their discovery in 19911, the peculiar electronic properties of these structures have attracted much attention. Their electronic conductivity, for example, has been predicted2,3,4 to depend sensitively on tube diameter and wrapping angle (a measure of the helicity of the tube lattice), with only slight differences in these parameters causing a shift from a metallic to a semiconducting state. In other words, similarly shaped molecules consisting of only one element (carbon) may have very different electronic behaviour. Although the electronic properties of multi-walled and single-walled nanotubes5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 have been probed experimentally, it has not yet been possible to relate these observations to the corresponding structure. Here we present the results of scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy on individual single-walled nanotubes from which atomically resolved images allow us to examine electronic properties as afunction of tube diameter and wrapping angle. We observe bothmetallic and semiconducting carbon nanotubes and find thatthe electronic properties indeed depend sensitively on thewrapping angle. The bandgaps of both tube types are consistent with theoretical predictions. We also observe van Hove singularities at the onset of one-dimensional energy bands, confirming the strongly one-dimensional nature of conduction within nanotubes.

Date: 1998
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/34139 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:391:y:1998:i:6662:d:10.1038_34139

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/34139

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().