The decoration of multi-walled carbon nanotubes with metal nanoparticles of uniform size using MeV electron beam irradiation

An easy method for decorating multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with metal nanoparticles (NPs) of a uniform size is reported. The NPs were obtained by energy-tunable MeV electron beam irradiation (MEBI) on NiCl2·6H2O-coated and PtCl2-coated MWCNTs at room temperature and ambient conditions. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy clearly revealed that MEBI induced Cl desorption, leading to the formation of Ni (5.16 ± 0.74 nm) and Pt (1.63 ± 0.15 nm) NPs. Since this was achieved without destruction of MWCNTs, MEBI can be a universal method for obtaining any metal NP on CNTs if the metal forms a compound with Cl.