Mapping functional groups on oxidised multi-walled carbon nanotubes at the nanometre scale

Abstract

Despite voluminous research on the acid oxidation of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), there is a distinct lack of experimental results showing distributions of functional groups at the nanometre length scale. Here, functional peaks have been mapped across individual multi-walled CNTs with low-dose, monochromated electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) in the scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM). Density functional theory simulations show that the EELS features are consistent with oxygenated functional groups, most likely carboxyl moieties.