Specific features of the electronic structure of fluorinated multiwalled carbon nanotubes in the near-surface region

The C 1 s and F 1 s X-ray photoelectron spectra of fluorinated multiwalled carbon nanotubes with different fluorine contents have been measured using the equipment of the Russian-German beamline at the BESSY storage ring by varying the energy of exciting photons. It has been established that two fluorocarbon phases in which the chemical bonding is characterized by a different electron transfer from carbon atoms to fluorine atoms are formed in the near-surface region of nanotubes with fluorine concentrations of 10–39 wt %. The content of the dominant first phase with a large electron transfer in nanotubes remains unchanged with an increase in the probing depth. This phase is identified as a bulk phase formed as a result of the covalent attachment of fluorine atoms to graphene layers of the graphite skeleton without its destruction. The second phase with a small electron transfer is a near-surface phase, because it is predominantly located within two or three upper graphene monolayers and its contribution considerably decreases with an increase in the probing depth of fluorinated multiwalled carbon nanotubes.