Correlated electrical breakdown in arrays of high density aligned carbon nanotubes

Abstract

We demonstrate that in a densely packed aligned array of single walled carbon nanotubes, the electrical breakdown of one nanotube leads to a highly correlated electrical breakdown of neighboring nanotubes, thereby producing a nanofissure. We show that the origin of the correlation is the electrostatic field of the broken nanotubes that produces locally inhomogeneous current and Joule heating distributions in the neighboring intact nanotubes triggering their breakdowns in the vicinity of the broken nanotubes. Our results suggest that the densely aligned arrays behave like a correlated solid.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Jun 13, 2011
Source ID
10.1063/1.3600664

Entities

People

  • Michael N. Leuenberger
  • Mikhail Erementchouk
  • Saiful I Khondaker
  • Shashank Shekhar

Organizations

  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research
  • National Science Foundation
  • University of Central Florida

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Nanocomposite Materials Science
  • Plasma Physics.
  • Quantum spin resonance or Electron Paramagnetic Resonance spectroscopy.