Measurement and analysis of interaction forces between carbon nanotube tip and substrate

Carbon nanotubes have been used as building blocks for assembly of nanostructures and nanodevices. Therefore, the interaction between the carbon nanotube and the environment is important. Interaction forces which were mainly consisted of van der Waals forces between a single multi-walled carbon nanotube tip and a gold surface were investigated and measured with an atomic force microscope cantilever. We also found that the electron beam irradiation can increase the interaction forces. The Hamaker constant for the CNT and the gold surface was obtained from the theoretical calculation and the experimental results. The results of the experiment provide good agreement with theoretical calculation.