In Situ Atomic Force Microscopy Tip-Induced Deformations and Raman Spectroscopy Characterization of Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes

PT Araujo and NMB Neto and H Chacham and SS Carara and JS Soares and AD Souza and LG Cancado and AB de Oliveira and RJC Batista and E Joselevich and MS Dresselhaus and A Jorio, NANO LETTERS, 12, 4110-4116 (2012).

DOI: 10.1021/nl3016347

In this work, an atomic force microscope (AFM) is combined with a confocal Raman spectroscopy setup to follow in situ the evolution of the G-band feature of isolated single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) under transverse deformation. The SWNTs are pressed by a gold AFM tip against the substrate where they are sitting. From eight deformed SWNTs, five exhibit an overall decrease in the Raman signal intensity, while three exhibit vibrational changes related to the circumferential symmetry breaking. Our results reveal chirality dependent effects, which are averaged out in SWNT bundle measurements, including a previously elusive mode symmetry breaking that is here explored using molecular dynamics calculations.

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