Interaction of oxygen with 4 ? carbon nanotubes

We review our density functional study of oxygen adsorption on the outer surface of 4 ? single-wall carbon nanotubes, which have been recently synthesized using a templating method. The stability of these 4 ? tubes under ambient conditions is investigated by the nudged elastic band technique and further confirmed by the experimentally measured Raman spectra. Different adsorption pictures of singlet O₂ could be used to select a single chirality from a mixture of these ultra-small radius tubes.