The toughness of multi-wall carbon nanocapsules.

A single multi-wall carbon nanocapsule (NC) was compressed by piezomanipulation inside a transmission electron microscope and then allowed to recover. The atomic structural dynamics were observed in situ with simultaneous measurement of the sub-nanonewton forces acting on the NC. The NC completely bent under a load of 4.6 nN exerted by a gold nanotip and recovered to its original shape when the nanotip was retracted. The observations showed that the NC possesses a high toughness for compression.