keV Ag ion irradiation induced damage on multiwalled carbon nanotubes

The stability of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) under ion irradiation is an important parameter for the performance of CNT devices under extreme conditions of heat, radiation, etc. In order to investigate the stability and the evolution of nature of bonding, multiwalled carbon nanotubes were irradiated using 21 keV Ag− ions with fluences of 1 × 1013, 5 × 1013, 7 × 1013 and 1 × 1014 ions/cm2. The samples were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The graphene wall structure of the nanotube is found to sustain up to a fluence of 7 × 1013 ions/cm2. Further increase of ion fluence leads to the destruction of the graphene wall structure. Increasing ion fluence in irradiation is found to lead to an increased number of sp3 hybridized carbon atoms compared with the pristine sample.