Characterization of carbon nanotubes exposed to Na or bombarded with Na+ at room temperature

We report an electron spectroscopy study on low energy Na+ ion implantation and Na atom intercalation in single walled and multi walled carbon nanotube mat samples. Our results show that these two different methods yield quite different dopant spatial distribution since implanted sodium atoms remain on the surface while intercalated alkali metal particles readily diffuse in the bulk.