Filling of carbon nanotubes with selenium by vapor phase process

A vapor phase method was developed to fill different kinds of nanotubes (including multiwall and singlewall nanotubes), which inner diameters range from 200 down to 1.5 nm. Experiments were performed with selenium in a sealed reactor in order to control the selenium partial pressure. This process allows a full control of the nanotube filling (partial or complete), i.e., either a selective diameter filling or a full filling rate. The weight gain of all the samples was plotted for different reaction temperature as a function of selenium pressure. Experimental isotherms are characteristic of capillary condensation of selenium, which occurs at first in the smallest nanotube inner diameters. X-ray diffraction data show that selenium confined in nanotubes with diameters larger than 3 nm keeps its trigonal structure.