Temperature-dependent resistivity of single-wall carbon nanotubes

Abstract

Nonchiral single wall carbon nanotubes with an "armchair" wrapping are\ntheoretically predicted to be conducting, and high purity samples consisting\npredominantly of these tubes exhibit metallic behavior with an intrinsic\nresistivity which increases approximately linearly with temperature over a wide\ntemperature range. Here we study the coupling of the conduction electrons to\nlong wavelength torsional shape fluctuations, or twistons. A one dimensional\ntheory of the scattering of electrons by twistons is presented which predicts\nan intrinsic resistivity proportional to the absolute temperature. Experimental\nmeasurements of the temperature dependence of the resistivity are reported and\ncompared with the predictions of the twiston theory.\n