Fundamental Electronic Properties and Applications of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Recent scanning tunneling microscopy studies of the intrinsic electronic properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are overviewed in this Account. A brief theoretical treatment of the electronic properties of SWNTs is developed, and then the effects of finite curvature and broken symmetry on electronic properties, the unique one-dimensional energy dispersion in nanotubes, the interaction between local spins and carriers in metallic nanotubes systems, and the atomic structure and electronic properties of intramolecular junctions are described. The implications of these studies for understanding fundamental one-dimensional physics and future nanotube device applications are also discussed.