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Deformation of carbon nanotubes by exposure to water vapor
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Deformation of carbon nanotubes by exposure to water vapor

Maria Pia Rossi, Yury Gogotsi and Konstantin G Kornev
Langmuir, v 25(5), pp 2804-2810
03 Mar 2009
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/la802684q
PMID: 19437757

Abstract

The condensation of water inside multiwalled carbon nanotubes has been monitored and controlled using environmental scanning electron microscopy. Undersaturated vapor condenses inside nanotubes and forms nanometer-thick water films. Simultaneously, nanotubes deform and decrease their apparent diameter. When the vapor pressure in the chamber approaches the saturation pressure, we observe the formation of menisci and spontaneous buckling of the nanotubes. We derive a criterion of the buckling instability caused by capillary condensation. Remarkably, the buckling criterion appears to be independent of the meniscus shape. Using our experiments and models, we estimated the circumferential Young's modulus of large-diameter carbon nanotubes with disordered wall structure produced by the chemical vapor deposition method (CVD) to be E(thetatheta) approximately 13-18 MPa. It appears to be at least 2 orders of magnitude lower than the longitudinal modulus of nanotubes produced by arc discharge or catalytic CVD methods. The reported experiments and proposed theory suggest possible applications of "soft" nanotubes as sensors to probe minute concentrations of absorbable gases and vapors.

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39 citations in Web of Science
42 citations in Scopus

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Chemistry, Physical
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
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