Oxygen contaminants affecting on the electronic structures of the carbon nano tubes grown by rapid thermal chemical vapor deposition

Oxygen-related electronic structures of CNTs (carbon nanotubes) grown by rapid thermal chemical vapor deposition (RT-CVD) have been investigated by using partial electron yield near edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy (PEY-NEXAFS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). On the CNT surface with increased oxygen resulting from e-beam irradiation under the O2 gas environment, C k-edge NEXAFS spectra showed an increase of the oxygen-related resonance peaks ranging from 287 to 289 eV whereas the sp2 related peak at 285.4 eV was nearly unchanged. After the complete removal process of the oxygen atom on the surface by annealing the sample at 500 °C for 30 min, C K-edge spectra showed an abrupt decrease of the oxygen-related resonance peaks in 287–289 eV and an increase of the sp2 related peak at 285.4 eV, indicating that the degree of crystallinity in the CNT sample was improved.