[Research developments of Raman scattering of carbon nanotubes]

Carbon nanotubes is a new one-dimension carbon material. With novel structural, electronic and mechanical properties, carbon nanotubes constitute' an important form of carbon that may find applications in many fields. Raman scattering is an important measurement method for the carbon nanotubes, especially for single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). The tube configuration can be studied in detail using Raman spectroscopy. Theoretical calculations predicated that SWNTs have 15 or 16 Raman active vibrational modes; the exact number depends on the symmetry of the tubes but is independent of its diameter. Also, the wavenumber of radius breathing mode (RMB) is inverse proportional to the radius of SWNTs by means of Raman spectroscopy. The recent progress of Raman scattering of carbon nanotubes is reviewed in this paper. The characteristic and vibrational theory of carbon nanotubes are presented. The potential application of carbon nanotubes is also briefly described.