The vibrational properties of defects in single-wall carbon nanotubes were investigated using an empirical dynamic model based upon force constants fitted to graphite. The defected structures were: an isotopic substitution impurity in a chiral tube, a Stone-Wales defect in a series of (10,m) (m = 4, ..., 10) nanotubes and in armchair tubes and an intramolecular junction between (12,0) and (9,0) nanotubes. The study emphasized the differences in local vibrational densities of states between perfect and imperfect nanotubes. Local vibrational densities of states were computed using the recursion method. This was a first step towards a more complete approach, to characterizing defects in carbon nanotube structures, based upon the recognition of localized vibrational fingerprints.

Characterization of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Containing Defects from Their Local Vibrational Densities of States. M.Vandescuren, H.Amara, R.Langlet, P.Lambin: Carbon, 2007, 45[2], 349-56