title: Initial stages of the contact between a metallic tip and carbon nanotubes.
abstract: We present an experimental and theoretical study of the interaction between a tip and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) lying on a SiO2 surface. Adhesion and jump-to-contact forces (JC) are measured in a high vacuum system for SWCNT with diameters (D) ranging from 1.4 to 4.5 nm; we find adhesion forces approximately 3.2 nN and JC forces approximately 2.4 nN. Simulations yield adhesion forces in agreement with experiment showing that for D approximately 1.4 nm half of this force is due to tip-SWCNT and tip-SiO2 van der Waals interactions.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física Teórica de la Materia Condensada, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, 28049-Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: González
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ortega
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Flores
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Martínez-Martín
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gómez-Herrero