Coefficient of thermal expansion of carbon nanotubes measured by Raman spectroscopy

Libo Deng (1) , Robert J. Young (2) , Ian A. Kinloch (2) , Rong Sun (1) , Guoping Zhang (1) , Laure Noé (3) , Marc Monthioux (3)

1 SIAT - Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology [Shenzhen]
2 University of Manchester [Manchester]
3 CEMES - Centre d'élaboration de matériaux et d'études structurales

The coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of peapod-derived double-walled carbon nanotubes and their host empty single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) was determined using Raman spectroscopy. This was performed by measuring the dependence of Raman band frequency of the nanotubes in epoxy resin matrix composites and considering the effects of both the strain and temperature on the Raman bands. Both types of nanotubes show positive thermal expansion at room temperature of around +2×10-5 K-1, and the CTE of the SWCNTs was unaffected by the introduction of the inner wall nanotubes. It was also demonstrated that the temperature-induced Raman band shifts can be used to determine both the CTE and glass transition temperature of the matrix polymers.

Mots clés: Epoxy resins; Organic polymers; Raman spectroscopy; Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCN); Double-walled carbon nanotubes; Inner walls; Raman band shifts; Room temperature; Single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNTs); Thermal expansion

Domaines: Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

Libo Deng, Robert J. Young, Ian A. Kinloch, Rong Sun, Guoping Zhang, et al.. Coefficient of thermal expansion of carbon nanotubes measured by Raman spectroscopy. Applied Physics Letters, 2014, 104 (5), pp.051907. ⟨10.1063/1.4864056⟩. ⟨hal-01758089⟩