Nanobuds promote heat welding of carbon nanotubes at experimentally-relevant temperatures

摘要

Direct heat welding of commonly found single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) (i.e. diameters >1 nm) requires a temperature of >4000 K which is too high to be practical. This work reports a novel welding method of SWCNTs at experimentally-relevant temperature by means of nanobuds to facilitate C-C bonded junction formation between the nanotubes. Through molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, it is demonstrated that SWCNTs independent of their diameters can be welded together using the proposed method even at a temperature below 1500 K.