Product Code: ICAL09_N303

Laser-Assisted Selective Removal of Metallic Carbon Nanotubes
Authors:
M. Mahjouri-Samani, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Lincoln NE USA
Y.S. Zhou, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Lincoln NE USA
W. Xiong, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Lincoln NE USA
Y. Gao, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Lincoln NE USA
M. Mitchell, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Lincoln NE USA
Y.F. Lu, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Lincoln NE USA
Presented at ICALEO 2009

Semiconductive single-walled carbon nanotubes (S-SWNTs) have been ideal building blocks for future nanoelectronic devices. However, current techniques of carbon nanotube (CNT) growth yield mixtures of different CNT types, both metallic and semiconductive, which have limited the applications of CNTs in electronics. In this study, selective removal of multi-walled and metallic single-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs and M-SWNTs) from mixtures of CNTs was realized using controlled laser irradiations. Due to their sub-wavelength size and free electrons, electron motions and eddy currents can be generated and significantly enhanced by strong electrical fields in laser beams and optical near field effects, resulting in selective heating and removal. With this approach, samples of pure S-SWNT arrays were obtained. This technique provides a laser-based single-step approach for selectively removing MWNTs and M-SWNTs from CNT mixtures.