Evidence for metal-semiconductor transitions in twisted and collapsed double-walled carbon nanotubes by scanning tunneling microscopy.

The atomic and electronic structure of a twisted and collapsed double-walled carbon nanotube was characterized using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. It was found that the deformation opens an electronic band gap in an otherwise metallic nanotube, which has major ramifications on the use of carbon nanotubes for electronic applications. Fundamentally, the importance of the intershell interaction in this double-walled carbon nanotube points to the potential of a reversible metal-semiconductor junction, which can have device applications, as well as a caution in the design of semiconductor components based on carbon nanotubes. Lattice registry effects between the two neighboring walls evidenced by atomically resolved images confirm earlier first principle calculations indicating that the helicity influences the collapsed structure and show excellent agreement with the predicted twisted-collapse mode.