Patching and tearing single-wall carbon-nanotube ropes into multiwall carbon nanotubes

Bundles of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) coalesce forming multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), containing from two to six nested tubes, under thermal treatment at high temperatures [(2200-2400) degrees C]. This structural transformation is confirmed by extensive molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The simulations suggest a "patching-and-tearing" mechanism for the single-wall-to-multiwall transformation underlying the "concerted" coalescence of the tubes that begins with their polymerization. Tubes of different sizes and chiralities are considered.