Eur. Phys. J. B 18, 201-205 (2000)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s100510070049

Diameter distribution of single wall carbon nanotubes in nanobundles

¹ Groupe de Dynamique des Phases CondenséesUMR CNRS 5581, Université Montpellier II, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
² Institut Laue-Langevin, 38042 Grenoble, France
³ Instituto de Carboquimica, CSIC, Zaragoza 50015, Spain
⁴ Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Aragón, Zaragoza 50015, Spain
⁵ Groupe Matière Condensée et Matériaux, Campus de Beaulieu, 35042 Rennes, France

Received: 22 December 1999
Revised: 17 July 2000
Published online: 15 November 2000

Abstract

The frequency of the Raman active A_1g radial breathing mode has been widely used as a tool to estimate the distribution of diameters of single wall carbon nanotubes (SWNT). However, the relation between frequency and diameter is not straightforward and results are model-dependent. Because most of the experiments are performed on bundles and not on isolated tubes, the model should especially take into account the van der Waals intertube interactions. Here, we use a pair-potential approach to account for such interactions and we derive a nonlinear relation between the SWNT diameter and the frequency of the A_1g radial breathing modes. We demonstrate a good agreement between calculations and the diameters derived from diffraction experiments on the same samples.