Nitrogen in carbon nanotubes

Nitrogen is an important impurity for doping carbon nanotubes (CNTs). It increases the conductivity of nanotubes, which is an important feature for field-effect transistors, emission and other nanoelectronic devices based on CNTs. In this work, we carried out a complex study of the behavior of nitrogen in nanotubes, its effect on their morphology, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Raman scattering spectra. The aim of the article is to determine the binding energies of various types of nitrogen distribution in the graphene lattice of carbon nanotubes. The goal was achieved by comparing the XPS spectra, differential gravimetric analysis, and quantum chemical calculations. It was found that a graphite-like state has the highest binding energy, which is energetically favorable during doping and creates donor centers for carbon nanotubes. Therefore, doping with nitrogen increases the conductivity of the nanotubes in most cases. [Display omitted] •A complex study of N behavior in MWCNTs•Manifestation of lattice distortion in Raman spectra•A new method to determine the N concentration in CNTs•Quantum-chemical calculation of the binding energy for N in N-doped CNT•Thermodynamic parameters for N-doped CNT based on joint spectroscopic analysis