Filling of single-walled carbon nanotubes with silver

We showed, by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and spatiall y resolved electron energy-loss spectroscopy, that silver atoms have been i ntroduced into single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) produced by the are- discharge method with solution phase chemistry by capillary filling, and a high efficiency of filling may be realized. Both partially filled and compl etely filled SWCNTs were observed, and the metal inside the tube may be reg arded as one-dimensional silver nanowires with high length-to-diameter rati os, The length of filling ranged from several to tens of nanometers, Under strong electron beam irradiation the filling metal condensed to a particle, while the silver-containing SWCNT shrank and disintegrated.