Thermal Behavior of Fluorinated Double-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWNTs), produced by a catalytic chemical vapor deposition method, have been fluorinated using a volatile mixture of BrF3 and Br2. Optical absorption spectroscopic study on the product detected nonfluorinated nanotubes, which could correspond to the inner walls of DWNTs. The fluorinated DWNTs have been annealed in vacuum at fixed temperatures, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed almost no fluorine in the sample heated to 300 °C. Comparison between X-ray fluorescent C Kα spectra of the pristine DWNT sample and the annealed fluorinated sample revealed change of the atomic structure of graphitic shells in the process of thermal defluorination.