Abstract
The diameter of a single-walled carbon nanotube shrunk at an increasingly faster rate under electron beam irradiation in a transmission electron microscope. The relationship between the radius of the single-walled carbon nanotube and the irradiation time demonstrates that the shrinkage is much faster than that predicted by current simulations. The results indicate that a curvature effect on the nanoscale and an energetic beam-induced soft mode and lattice instability effect, which were underestimated or neglected in the existing simulations are the primary driving force for the shrinkage. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.