2000/05/30 by Alper Buldum, Jian Ping Lu · 2 citations
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Carbon Nanotubes in Composites #Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications #Graphene research and applications #cond-mat.mes-hall
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.63.161403
4 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2000/05/30 · openalex publication_date 2001/04/05 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Fascinating properties of nanotubes arise when they form intermolecular junctions. In this rapid communication, we demonstrate that such nanotube junctions have atomic scale characteristics and the contact resistance between the tubes depends strongly on atomic structure in the contact region. Our calculations show that the optimal electronic transport between nanotubes occurs when the tubes are in atomic scale registry. The contact resistance can vary several orders of magnitude with atomic scale movements. Phenomena such as the negative differential resistance and nonlinear variation of resistance are found. These properties may lead to new device applications.