Modifications of single walled carbon nanotubes by ion-induced plasma

Ion beam technology is used efficiently for tailoring the properties of various nanomaterials. Here, we focus on the structural modifications of carbon nanotubes by highly energetic heavy ions of MeV–GeV kinetic energy. The irradiation with high ion fluence induces significant topographic change along the irradiated nanotubes. We introduce a hydrodynamic fluid model for explaining the observed results by investigating the ion-induced plasma. The calculations shows that the evolution of the periodic electric potential coincides qualitatively with the observed broken nanostructured segments along the irradiated nanotube. Moreover, the increase in ion fluence leads to an increase in the magnitude of the normalized electric potential. The dependence of the electric potential on the ion kinetic energy is discussed.