Structural transition of carbon nanoparticles caused by energetic collisions

Abstract

A broad general interest in the process of affecting the energetic deposition of flying nanoparticles has prompted a new opportunity to consider the medium-energy region in which the nanoparticles maintain their integrity and must respond to the energetic shock caused by collisions. We herein report our experimental results on the structural transition of the carbon nanoparticles induced by such energetic collisions. The beam energy was varied from 0 keV to 30 keV for a nanoparticle with over 5000 carbon atoms. Electron energy loss spectroscopy, X-ray photoemission spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy were carried out on the samples using a series of beam energies. These tests revealed that some graphitic sheets were formed at the higher beam energy while the sp3 ratio was unexpectedly higher for a medium beam energy.