Nitrogen-doped SWCNT synthesis using ammonia and carbon monoxide

Great effort has been directed into modifying the electrical properties of produced carbon nanotubes by chemical doping and - in parallel - into controlling their chirality. We present a new approach to synthesizing nitrogen-doped single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), based on gas phase floating catalyst CVD. The nitrogen content in the tubes was verified by transmission electron microscopy/electron-energy loss spectroscopy (TEM/EELS), and their chiral angle distribution found by electron diffraction (ED) to be skewed toward armchair tubes. Additionally, the optical properties of the material were probed by multi-frequency Raman spectroscopy and optical absorption.