Electronic Characterization of the Single-wall CarbonNanotubes: A XANES Study

The single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNs) were discovered in '93 [1] and are made of pure carbon atoms just like a single sheet of graphite wrapped around a cylindrical axis. The same material with slight variations in the geometrical arrangement yields different electronic properties, which could range from metallic to semiconducting behavior. They have fascinating chemical, mechanical and electrical properties which result remarkably different from those of any other carbon-based materials and which suggest enormous potential application in many technological areas, as catalysis, energy and gas storage, electron emitters, sensors,fast acting switches, molecular electronics, etc. [2-6]. In this contest it is very important to know and to control the electronical and chemical characteristics of the SWCNs.……