Observation and Novel Explanation of Instability of Single Wall Carbon Nanotube

Structural instability of single wall carbon nanotube under electron beam irradiation was investigated by our developed in-situ transmission electron microscopy observation technique. It was observed that the nanotube shrunk and necked in diameter gradually and the curved nanotube shrunk faster in axis direction than straight one with increasing of electron dose during the irradiation. Such athermally induced structural instabilities can be well accounted for by completely new concepts of the nano curvature and the energetic beam-induced soft mode and lattice instability as we recently proposed