The low-temperature radial thermal expansion of single-walled carbon nanotube bundles saturated with nitrogen

Abstract

The effect of a N₂ impurity on the radial thermal expansion coefficient αr of single-walled carbon nanotube bundles has been investigated in the temperature interval 2.2–43K by the dilatometric method. Saturation of nanotube bundles with N₂ caused a sharp increase in the positive magnitudes of αr in the whole temperature range used and a very high and wide maximum in the thermal expansion coefficient αr(T) at T~28 K. The lowtemperature desorption of the impurity from the N₂-saturated powder of bundles of single-walled carbon nanotubes with open and closed ends has been investigated.