Structural damage on multiwalled carbon nanotubes and encapsulated single crystal nickel nanorods irradiated with Au+7 ions of 100 MeV

In the present work we report the results of the irradiation of the multiwalled carbon nanotubes samples with gold ions of 100 MeV. The damage on the tube walls and the encapsulated nickel filling inside was studied using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The irradiation produces localized planar defects on the tube walls and induces amorphization of the encapsulated nickel nanorods. It also results in decrease of the interplanar spacing of graphite walls as well as nickel (111) planes. As the nanotubes in our case are of 20–30 nm diameter, it is expected that the interaction with the tubes will be exclusively via electronic energy loss (dE/dx)e of the ion beam. The results on the damage of the tube walls and the nature of the generated defects are reported.