Carbon nanotubes: pressure-induced transformations and voltage generation by flow of liquids

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes are new forms of carbon with many novel and fascinating properties. We will focus on our on-going work on single-walled carbon nanotubes related to the pressure-induced transformations and liquid-flow induced voltage generation. High-pressure synchrotron X-ray diffraction and Raman experiments under hydrostatic and non-hydrostatic pressure conditions have revealed a remarkable mechanical resilience of the nanotube bundles. The translational coherence of the triangular lattice in a bundle is lost at pressures greater than about 10 GPa, which is recovered on decompression. Recently, we have shown that the flow of a variety of liquids induces a voltage/current in the sample of nanotubes along the flow direction. The voltage depends on velocity in a sub-linear fashion and the direction of induced current depends on the liquid.