Growth of single wall carbon nanotubes from 13C isotope labelled organic solvents inside single wall carbon nanotube hosts

We present the growth of single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) from organic solvents such as benzene and toluene inside a host SWCNT. The solvents encapsulated in SWCNTs are transformed to an inner tube when subject to a heat treatment under dynamic vacuum at 1270 °C. We used isotope labeling of the different carbon sources to prove that the source of the inner tubes is indeed the solvent. Our results put constraints on the models explaining the inner tube growth and provides a simple alternative for the fullerene based inner tube growth. It also provides the possibility to study a completely new field of in-the-tube chemistry.