Individual multiwall carbon nanotubes spectroscopy by scanning transmission X-ray microscopy

Scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM) has been used to probe the electronic structure of individual multiwall carbon nanotubes by chemical mapping at the nanoscale. Carbon 1s near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectra of individual structures are shown to be able to differentiate carbon nanotubes from onionlike carbon nanoparticles and to differentiate nanotubes synthesized by different growth methods. Imaging of the very same region by both STXM and transmission electron microscopy is shown to be a very useful and complementary approach.