Effect of Sidewall Fluorination on the Mechanical Properties of Catalytically Grown Multi- Wall Carbon Nanotubes

摘要

We report on the usage of a simple microfabricateddevice, that works in conjunction with a quantitative nanoindenter inside a scanning electron microscope (SEM), for the in situ quantitative tensile testing of individual sidewall fluorinated multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWNTs). The stress vs. strain curves and the tensile strength values for five fluorinated specimens have been presented and compared to those of pristine MWNT specimens (data reported earlier). The fluorinated specimens were found to deform and fail in a brittle fashion similar to pristine MWNTs. However, sidewall fluorination was found to have considerably degraded the mechanical properties (tensile strength and load bearing capacity) of the MWNTs.