Enhancement of the electrical properties of carbon nanotubes with Ar–N2 plasma treatment

Optical emission spectroscopy and Langmuir probe are used to investigate the low pressure inductively coupled Ar–N2 plasmas as function of rf power, filling pressure and Ar content in N2 discharge. It is observed that the active species generation, dissociation fraction and electron temperature significantly depends on discharge parameters and may be used to optimize the plasma reactor. Mixture of SWCNTs and MWCNTs are treated for different treatment time (0–120 min) at optimum discharge conditions. Changes induced in the elemental composition, surface morphology, crystallographic structure, and structural disorder in the plasma irradiated CNTs are analyzed by EDX, FTIR, SEM, XRD and Raman spectroscopy, respectively. Ar–N2 mixture plasma treatment of CNTs lead to a significant increase in the electrical conductivity, modify the microstructure and induce structural disorder and cause a transition of crystalline phase from well crystalline to an amorphous structure.

► Structural disorder is induced in CNTs by Ar–N2 plasma treatment.
► A transition of phase from well crystalline to an amorphous structure has occurred.
► Nitrogen has not diffused into CNTs by plasma irradiation.
► Electrical conductivity is significantly enhanced with increasing treatment time.