Electronic structure of the carbon nanotube tips studied by x-ray-absorption spectroscopy and scanning photoelectron microscopy

Angle-dependent x-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) and scanning photoelectron microscopy (SPEM) measurements have been performed to differentiate local electronic structures of the tips and sidewalls of highly aligned carbon nanotubes. The intensities of both π*- and σ*-band C K-edge XANES features are found to be significantly enhanced at the tip. SPEM results also show that the tips have a larger density of states and a higher C 1s binding energy than those of sidewalls. The increase of the tip XANES and SPEM intensities are quite uniform over an energy range wider than 10 eV in contrast to earlier finding that the enhancement is only near the Fermi level.