Engineering Double-Walled Carbon Nanotubes by Ar Plasma

Double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWCNTs) have been found to be promising nano-materials for nano-mechanical and nano-electrical devices due to their double-walled structures. Modifying DWCNTs would be one of the key technologies for device construction. We demonstrate engineering the geometry of DWCNTs by etching with Ar plasma. The characterization by atomic force microscopy indicates that single atomic carbon layers could be removed from DWCNTs by Ar plasma. The etching effect is further investigated by electrical measurements on DWCNT field-effect transistors, which allow us to study the interwall screen effect as well.