Electric and Mass Transport of a Suspended Multiwall Carbon Nanotube Studied by In situ Transmission Electron Microscopy

A single multiwall carbon nanotube was bridged between platinum and indium–gallium (In–Ga) alloy electrodes in a transmission electron microscope, and electric resistances between the electrodes at various bridge lengths were measured in situ with the imaging of the structural dynamics of the nanotube. The intrinsic resistivity of the nanotube and the contact resistances between the nanotube and the electrodes were analyzed, and the resistivity of the nanotube was estimated to be $3.8 \times 10^{-4}$ $\Omega$ cm. At a high current exceeding about 120 µA with the In–Ga alloy electrode being positively biased, the alloy material migrated along the nanotube surface toward the counter electrode. ©2010

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