Electron Microscopy of Nanotubes

Research in carbon nanotubes has reached a horizon that is impacting a variety of fields, such as nanoelectronics, flat panel display, composite materials, sensors, nanodevices and novel instrumentation. The unique structures of the nanotubes result in numerous superior physical and chemical properties, such as the strongest mechanical strength and the highest thermal conductivity, room temperature ballistic quantum conductance, electromechanical coupling, and super surface functionality. Among the various analytical techniques, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) has played a key role in the discovery and characterization of carbon nanotubes. It may be claimed that carbon nanotubes might not have been discovered without using HRTEM. There is a great need of a book that addresses specifically the theory, techniques and application of electron microscopy and associated techniques for nanotube research. The objective of this book is to fill this gap. The potential of HRTEM is now well received in wide ranging communities such as materials science, physics, chemistry and electrical engineering. TEM is a powerful technique that is indispensable for characterizing nanomaterials, and Electron Microscopy of Nanotubes focuses on the applications of TEM in structural, electronic, and property characterization of carbon nanotubes and demonstrates how a comprehensive application of HRTEM and associated new techniques for nanotube research can be applied to a wide range of materials. The book contains 12 chapters and the authors for the chapters are the world prominent scientists specializing in the field. The contents of the book can be separated into three parts. The first part composed of chapters 1-6 is about the diffraction, imaging and spectroscopy of carbon-based nanotubes. The second part (chapters 7-9) describes the physical property nanomeasurements of carbon nanotubes based on in-situ TEM. The last part is about non-carbon based tubular structures and related structures.