Photocurrent properties of freely suspended carbon nanotubes under uniaxial strain

Abstract

The photocurrent properties of freely suspended single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are investigated as a function of uniaxial strain. We observe that at low strain, the photocurrent signal of the CNTs increases for increasing strain, while for large strain, the signal decreases, respectively. We interpret the nonmonotonous behavior by a superposition of the influence of the uniaxial strain on the resistivity of the CNTs and the effects caused by Schottky contacts between the CNTs and the metal contacts. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.