Optically transparent carbon nanowire thin film

Thin films of amorphous carbon nanowire (a-CNW) have been fabricated from crossed multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) thin film. The fabrication was done by means of ion beam irradiation on various substrates. It is found that the a-CNW thin films show electrical conduction behaviour, and electrical conductivity varies after annealing. In addition, the transmission spectra in the visible range reveal that the film has above 90% optical transmission. It can be ascribed to the fact that the decreased crystallinity of MWCNTs by ion beam irradiation has caused the incremental increase of optical transmission. We also report on a method for cutting or destroying a-CNWs using low-energy focused electron beam from a scanning electron microscope.