Advances in carbon nanotube device fabrication and scanning probe characterization were combined. In particular, scanning gate spectroscopy was applied to the study of defects introduced into single walled carbon nanotubes by point functionalization in water, sulfuric acid, or hydrochloric acid. Scanning gate spectroscopy measured the energy-dependent transmission functions of defect sites, and by working in the dilute limit of individual, isolated defects the three chemical types were distinguished empirically. A preliminary analysis proposed a scattering model in order to motivate further theoretical investigations of this one-dimensional scattering system.

Distinguishing Carbon Nanotube Defect Chemistry using Scanning Gate Spectroscopy. S.R.Hunt, E.J.Fuller, B.L.Corso, P.G.Collins: Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, 2012, 85[23], 235418