Transport phenomena in an anisotropically aligned single-wall carbon nanotube film

Abstract

Thin films of aligned carbon nanotubes were prepared by a simple mechanical rubbing from a singlewalled carbon nanotube powder, which was synthesized by the catalytic arc discharge. The measured electrical resistivity shows high anisotropy (rho (N)/rho (P)) ranging from 5 to 15. The annealed samples show a monotonic decrease in the resistivity with increasing temperature. Carbon nanotubes in the mat act as strong Luttinger liquids with g values ranging from 0.18 to 0.26, similar to an isolated nanotube. We propose that the transport is dominantly governed by the formation of metal-metal crossed junctions of nanotubes in the mat.