Measuring the Diameter of Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes Using AFM

In this work, we identify two issues that can significantly affect the accuracy of AFM measurements of the diameter of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and propose a protocol that reduces errors associated with these issues. Measurements of the nanotube height under different applied forces demonstrate that even moderate forces significantly compress several different types of SWCNTs, leading to errors in measured diameters that must be minimized and/or corrected. Substrate and nanotube roughness also make major contributions to the uncertainty associated with the extraction of diameters from measured images. An analysis method has been developed that reduces the uncertainties associated with this extraction to <0.1 nm. This method is then applied to measure the diameter distribution of individual highly semiconducting enriched nanotubes in networks prepared from polyfluorene/SWCNT dispersions. Good agreement is obtained between diameter distributions for the same sample measured with two different commercial AFM instruments, indicating the reproducibility of the method. The reduced uncertainty in diameter measurements based on this method facilitates: (1) determination of the thickness of the polymer layer wrapping the nanotubes and (2) measurement of nanotube compression at tube–tube junctions within the network.

[1]  Feng Yang,et al.  Atomic-Scale Evidence of Catalyst Evolution for the Structure-Controlled Growth of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes. , 2022, Accounts of chemical research.

[2]  R. Bellotti,et al.  AFM Measurements and Tip Characterization of Nanoparticles with Different Shapes , 2022, Nanomanufacturing and Metrology.

[3]  T. Lei,et al.  Enrichment of high-purity large-diameter semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes. , 2022, Nanoscale.

[4]  J. Zaumseil,et al.  Charge transport in semiconducting carbon nanotube networks , 2021, Applied Physics Reviews.

[5]  A. Jorio,et al.  Raman spectroscopy for carbon nanotube applications , 2021 .

[6]  W. Wenseleers,et al.  Assessing the reliability of the Raman peak counting method for the characterization of SWCNT diameter distributions: a cross characterization with TEM , 2020, 2010.00835.

[7]  Christian Lau,et al.  Fabrication of carbon nanotube field-effect transistors in commercial silicon manufacturing facilities , 2020, Nature Electronics.

[8]  J. Zaumseil.  Semiconducting Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotubes or Very Rigid Conjugated Polymers: A Comparison , 2018, Advanced Electronic Materials.

[9]  Ying Tian,et al.  Validity of Measuring Metallic and Semiconducting Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Fractions by Quantitative Raman Spectroscopy , 2018, Analytical chemistry.

[10]  J. Lefebvre,et al.  High-Purity Semiconducting Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes: A Key Enabling Material in Emerging Electronics. , 2017, Accounts of chemical research.

[11]  Gerald J. Brady,et al.  Quasi-ballistic carbon nanotube array transistors with current density exceeding Si and GaAs , 2016, Science Advances.

[12]  S. Zou,et al.  Analysis Method for Quantifying the Morphology of Nanotube Networks. , 2016, Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids.

[13]  J. Zaumseil,et al.  Understanding Charge Transport in Mixed Networks of Semiconducting Carbon Nanotubes , 2016, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[14]  R. Krupke,et al.  Length-Sorted, Large-Diameter, Polyfluorene-Wrapped Semiconducting Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes for High-Density, Short-Channel Transistors. , 2016, ACS nano.

[15]  Mark C. Hersam,et al.  Inkjet Printed Circuits on Flexible and Rigid Substrates Based on Ambipolar Carbon Nanotubes with High Operational Stability. , 2015, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[16]  Shaoming Huang,et al.  Controlling the Diameter of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes by Improving the Dispersion of the Uniform Catalyst Nanoparticles on Substrate , 2015, Nano-micro letters.

[17]  Ying Tian,et al.  Gas phase synthesis of non-bundled, small diameter single-walled carbon nanotubes with near-armchair chiralities , 2015, 1601.08040.

[18]  Jianfu Ding,et al.  Enrichment of large-diameter semiconducting SWCNTs by polyfluorene extraction for high network density thin film transistors. , 2014, Nanoscale.

[19]  G. Dietler,et al.  Fine DNA structure revealed by constant height frequency modulation AFM imaging , 2013 .

[20]  S. Marrink,et al.  Semiconducting Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotubes on Demand by Polymer Wrapping , 2013, Advanced materials.

[21]  Chang Ming Li,et al.  High-performance inkjet printed carbon nanotube thin film transistors with high-k HfO2 dielectric on plastic substrate. , 2012, Small.

[22]  G. Dietler,et al.  FM‐AFM constant height imaging and force curves: high resolution study of DNA‐tip interactions , 2012, Journal of molecular recognition : JMR.

[23]  Eric Pop,et al.  Effect of carbon nanotube network morphology on thin film transistor performance , 2012, Nano Research.

[24]  F. Xiong,et al.  Effects of tip-nanotube interactions on atomic force microscopy imaging of carbon nanotubes , 2012, Nano Research.

[25]  D. Nečas,et al.  Gwyddion: an open-source software for SPM data analysis , 2012 .

[26]  J. Font,et al.  The Intrinsic Resolution Limit in the Atomic Force Microscope: Implications for Heights of Nano-Scale Features , 2011, PloS one.

[27]  M. Loi,et al.  Selective wrapping and supramolecular structures of polyfluorene-carbon nanotube hybrids. , 2011, ACS nano.

[28]  Matteo Pasquali,et al.  Diameter-dependent bending dynamics of single-walled carbon nanotubes in liquids , 2009, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[29]  Matthew R. Leyden,et al.  Identifying individual single-walled and double-walled carbon nanotubes by atomic force microscopy. , 2008, Nano letters.

[30]  M. Minary‐Jolandan,et al.  Reversible radial deformation up to the complete flattening of carbon nanotubes in nanoindentation , 2008 .

[31]  Lianwei Peng,et al.  Measurement accuracy of the diameter of a carbon nanotube from TEM images , 2002 .

[32]  C. Dekker,et al.  Scanning tunneling spectroscopy on crossed carbon nanotubes , 2002 .

[33]  H. Kataura,et al.  Determination of SWCNT diameters from the Raman response of the radial breathing mode , 2001 .

[34]  S. Louie,et al.  Structural deformation and intertube conductance of crossed carbon nanotube junctions. , 2000, Physical review letters.

[35]  R. Ruoff,et al.  Investigation of the radial deformability of individual carbon nanotubes under controlled indentation force , 2000, Physical review letters.