Nitrogen and phosphorus doped single-wall carbon nanotubes (NiPhoTubes)

2013–2015

Significant progress in understanding the bonding of phosphorus (P) atoms in single-walled carbon nanotubes was achieved during the NIPHOTUBES project. Although nanotubes possess several exceptional and unique properties, their electronic nature depends on their precise structure. This presents a problem for applications, since nanotubes of a specific type are typically required. Another way to control their properties is by substitutional doping, that is, replacing some carbon atoms with atoms of another element. However, such research has been hampered by the limited availability of doped materials and the difficulty of conclusively identifying the dopant sites. As a highlight of the project, we made a pioneering study on measuring the bonding of phosphorus in carefully purified samples confirming its feasibility as a dopant, and were further able to directly image a single P dopant in graphene. Finally, although not part of the original project goals, our finding that an electron beam could be used to move dopant atoms controllably in the graphene lattice may prove to be a major discovery, contributing to pushing the limits of what is technologically possible in science.

Funder: Austrian Science Fund

Project identifier: M 1497

Principal investigator: T. Susi

Project publications

2016

Erbahar, D., Susi, T., Rocquefelte, X., Bittencourt, C., Scardamaglia, M., Blaha, P., Guttmann, P., Rotas, G., Tagmatarchis, N., Zhu, X., Hitchcock, A. P., & Ewels, C. P. (2016). Spectromicroscopy of C-60 and azafullerene C59N: Identifying surface adsorbed water. Scientific Reports, 6, [35605]. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep35605

2015

Mustonen, K., Laiho, P., Kaskela, A., Susi, T., Nasibulin, A. G., & Kauppinen, E. I. (2015). Uncovering the ultimate performance of single-walled carbon nanotube films as transparent conductors. Applied Physics Letters, 107(14), [143113]. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4932942

Mustonen, K., Laiho, P., Kaskela, A., Zhu, Z., Reynaud, O., Houbenov, N., Tian, Y., Susi, T., Jiang, H., Nasibulin, A. G., & Kauppinen, E. I. (2015). Gas phase synthesis of non-bundled, small diameter single-walled carbon nanotubes with near-armchair chiralities. Applied Physics Letters, 107(1), [013106]. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4926415

Susi, T., Mowbray, D. J., Ljungberg, M. P., & Ayala, P. (2015). Calculation of the graphene C 1s core level binding energy. Physical Review B, 91(8), [081401]. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.91.081401

Ruiz Soria, R. G., Susi, T., Sauer, M., Yanagi, K., Pichler, T., & Ayala, P. (2015). On the bonding environment of phosphorus in purified doped single-walled carbon nanotubes. Carbon, 81(1), 91-95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2014.09.028

2014

Susi, T., Kotakoski, J., Kepaptsoglou, D., Mangler, C., Lovejoy, T. C., Krivanek, O. L., Zan, R., Bangert, U., Ayala, P., Meyer, J. C., & Ramasse, Q. (2014). Silicon-Carbon Bond Inversions Driven by 60-keV Electrons in Graphene. Physical Review Letters, 113(11), [115501]. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.115501

Susi, T., Kaukonen, M., Havu, P., Ljungberg, M. P., Ayala, P., & Kauppinen, E. I. (2014). Core level binding energies of functionalized and defective graphene. Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology, 5(1), 121-132. https://doi.org/10.3762/bjnano.5.12