Molecular dynamics and simulated ion impacts on nanotubes lying on substrates such as platinum and graphite were studied. It was shown that defect production depended upon the type of substrate and that the damage was greater for metallic heavy-atom substrates than for light-atom substrates: in the former case, sputtered metal atoms and back-scattered recoils produced extra damage in the nanotube. Also studied was the behavior of defects during high-temperature annealing. It was demonstrated that, although ions could severely damage nanotubes in local regions, the nanotube carbon network could heal marked localized damage due to defect migration and dangling-bond saturation. It was also shown that, after annealing, the residual damage in nanotubes was independent of the substrate type. The pinning of nanotubes to substrates through nanotube-substrate bonds that appeared near to irradiation-induced defects was predicted.

Production of Defects in Supported Carbon Nanotubes under Ion Irradiation. A.V.Krasheninnikov, K.Nordlund, J.Keinonen: Physical Review B, 2002, 65[16], 1654231-8