title: Oxidation of Carbon Nanotubes in an Ionizing Environment.
abstract: In this work, we present systematic studies on how an illuminating electron beam which ionizes molecular gas species can influence the mechanism of carbon nanotube oxidation in an environmental transmission electron microscope (ETEM). We found that preferential attack of the nanotube tips is much more prevalent than for oxidation in a molecular gas environment. We establish the cumulative electron doses required to damage carbon nanotubes from 80 keV electron beam irradiation in gas versus in high vacuum. Our results provide guidelines for the electron doses required to study carbon nanotubes within or without a gas environment, to determine or ameliorate the influence of the imaging electron beam. This work has important implications for in situ studies as well as for the oxidation of carbon nanotubes in an ionizing environment such as that occurring during field emission.
authors.affiliation: Stanford Nano Shared Facilities, Stanford University , Stanford, California 94305, United States.
authors.forename: Ai Leen
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Koh
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physical Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States.
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gidcumb
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physical Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States.|Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States.
authors.forename: Otto
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University , Stanford, California 94305, United States.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sinclair
mesh_terms: D004583:Electrons; D005740:Gases / Q000737:chemistry; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D036103:Nanotechnology; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D014618:Vacuum
chemical_list: D005740:Gases; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon
keywords: aberration-corrected TEM; carbon nanotubes; environmental TEM; gas ionization; oxidation