ABSTRACT
Over the last few decades, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have become the subject of intensive research, both fundamental and applied. They are evaluated for engineering applications as well. Individual, defectfree SWCNTs are seen as ideal model systems for one-dimensional conductors1-3 since they exhibit ballistic transport of electrons (i.e., the absence of inelastic scattering) over mesoscopic distances along their wall axis.4-6 Electron transport through MWCNTs appears to be more complex since some electron transfer between the †‹ơ‡”‡– Žƒ›‡”• ‘……—”•ǡ7-9 that can redistribute the current across the walls. It was, however, suggested that the intertube transfer in long, incommensurate, disorder-free MWCNTs becomes negligibly small10-12 and that, at most, only a few layers close to the outermost •Š‡ŽŽ‘ˆ–Š‡•‹‰‹ϐ‹…ƒ–Ž›…‘–”‹„—–‡–‘–Š‡‡Ž‡…–”‘–”ƒ•’‘”–Ǥ Š‹• ‡Ž‡…–”‘‹… …‘ϐ‹‡‡– ƒ› •–‡ ˆ”‘ –Š‡ ‹’‘••‹„‹Ž‹–› ˆ‘” electrons to go through semi-conductive shells, which statistically constitute two-third of the total shells of the MWCNTs.
