Persistence Length of Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes with Static Bending

Persistence length of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) is studied using three-dimensional analysis of MWCNT individual particles, employing scanning electron microscopy with various view angles and a capillary viscometer. The root-mean-squared end-to-end distance of MWCNTs follows random-coil scaling in spite of their static bending points. The static bending persistence length (l sp) of the MWCNTs is estimated to be 271 nm. The intrinsic viscosity of the MWCNTs follows the wormlike coil model when the dynamic bending persistence length (l p) is replaced by the static bending persistence length (l sp).