In situ electrical measurements and manipulation of B/N-doped C nanotubes in a high-resolution transmission electron...

B/N-doped multiwalled C nanotubes were electrically probed by means of a tungsten needle attached to a piezo-driven stage of a high-resolution transmission electron microscope holder. Two-terminal transport measurements were performed in a 'W needle-nanotube-ground' circuit. The I-V curves were recorded in situ while viewing the nanotubes in the imaging mode of the microscope. This allows us to trace nanotube array morphological changes under applied voltage (up to 50 V). Specific manipulation with nanotube assemblies was found to be possible under applied electrical field: attachment of a tiny nanotube bundle to the W needle and extraction of a given nanotube fragment from an entangled complex bunch were achieved. The electrically-probed B/N-doped C nanotubes exhibited alternating B-rich and C-rich B-C-N domains within tubular layers, as revealed by elemental mapping during energy-filtered TEM (Omega filter). At room temperature the nanostructures displayed resistivity (rho) of approximately 1.8 x 10(-5) omegam and linear I-V curves. The key role of a given contact between the probing needle and a nanotube during electrical measurements was particularly verified.