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Updated: Aug 14, 2026

Precision Milling of Carbon Nanotube Forests Using Low Pressure Scanning Electron Microscopy
Published on: February 5, 2017
Structural transformations of carbon nanotubes under hydrostatic pressure
Paul Tangney1, Rodrigo B Capaz, Catalin D Spataru
1The Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA. pttangney@lbl.gov
Abstract:
We used simulations with a classical force field to study the transformation under hydrostatic pressure of isolated single-walled nanotubes (SWNT) from a circular to a collapsed cross section. Small-diameter SWNTs deform continuously under pressure, whereas larger-diameter SWNTs display hysteresis and undergo a first-order-like transformation. The different behavior is due to the changing proportions in the total energy of the wall-curvature energy and the van der Waals attraction between opposite walls of the tube.
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