Structural transformations of double-walled carbon nanotube bundle under hydrostatic pressure

Abstract

Three kinds of the response mechanisms to the external pressure have been found for double-walled carbon nanotube (DWCNT) bundle, depending strongly on their average radius and symmetry. The small-diameter DWCNT bundle undergoes a small discontinuous volume change, and then deform continuously. The intermediate-diameter DWCNT bundle collapses completely after a structure phase transition (SPT). Significantly, two SPTs exist for the larger-diameter DWCNT bundle if the outer tube has no C6 or C3 symmetry. It would be interesting to search for signatures of these different structural transformations by experimentally investigating mechanical, optical, and thermal response functions of DWCNT bundle. © 2006 American Institute of Physics.