An analogue to Raoults law is determined for the case of a 3He-4He mixture adsorbed in the interstitial channels of a bundle of carbon nanotubes. Unlike the case of He mixtures in other environments, the ratio of the partial pressures of the coexisting vapor is found to be a simple function of the ratio of concentrations within the nanotube bundle.
Helium atoms are strongly attracted to the interstitial channels within a bundle of carbon nanotubes. The strong corrugation of the axial potential within a channel can produce a lattice gas system where the weak mutual attraction between atoms in neighboring channels of a bundle induces condensation into a remarkably anisotropic phase with very low binding energy. We estimate the binding energy and critical temperature for 4He in this novel quasi-one-dimensional condensed state. At low temperatures, the specific heat of the adsorbate phase (fewer than 2% of the total number of atoms) greatly exceeds that of the host material.
We explore the properties of atoms confined to the interstitial regions within a carbon nanotube bundle. We find that He and Ne atoms are of ideal size for physisorption interactions, so that their binding energies are much greater there than on planar surfaces of any known material. Hence high density phases exist at even small vapor pressure. There can result extraordinary anisotropic liquids or crystalline phases, depending on the magnitude of the corrugation within the interstitial channels.
Grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations have been performed to determine the adsorption behavior of Ar and Kr atoms on the exterior surface of a rope (bundle) consisting of many carbon nanotubes. The computed adsorption isotherms reveal phase transitions associated with the successive creation of quasi-one dimensional lines of atoms near and parallel to the intersection of two adjacent nanotubes.
We report a first principles analysis of electronic transport characteristics for (n,n) carbon nanotube bundles. When n is not a multiple of 3, inter-tube coupling causes universal conductance suppression near Fermi level regardless of the rotational arrangement of individual tubes. However, when n is a multiple of 3, the bundles exhibit a diversified conductance dependence on the orientation details of the constituent tubes. The total energy of the bundle is also sensitive to the orientation arrangement only when n is a multiple of 3. All the transport properties and band structures can be well understood from the symmetry consideration of whether the rotational symmetry of the individual tubes is commensurate with that of the bundle.
We report on experiments conducted on single walled carbon nanotube bundles aligned in chains and connected through a natural contact barrier. The dependence upon the temperature of the transport properties is investigated for samples having different characteristics. Starting from two bundles separated by one barrier deposited over four contact probes, we extend the study of the transport properties to samples formed by chains of several bundles. The systematic analysis of the properties of these aggregates shows the existence of two conduction regimes in the barrier. We show that an electrical circuit taking into account serial and parallel combinations of voltages generated at the junctions between bundles models the samples consistently.