Transmission electron microscopy alignment

Multi-walled CNTs (MWCNTs) are produced by arc discharge between graphite electrodes but other carbonaceous materials are always formed simultaneously. The main by-product, nanoparticles, can be removed utilizing the difference in oxidation reaction rates between CNTs and nanoparticles [9]. Then, it was reported that CNTs can be aligned by dispersion in a polymer resin matrix [10]. However, the parameters of CNTs are uncontrollable, such as the diameter, length, chirality and so on, at present. Furthermore, although the CNTs are observed like cylinders by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), some reports have pointed out the possibility of non-cylindrical structures and the existence of defects [11-14]. 

Winey KI et al (1993) Morphology of a lamellar diblock copolymer aligned perpendicular to the sample plane - transmission electron-microscopy and small-angle X-ray-scattering. Macromolecules 26(16) 4373—4375... 

Figure 8 Transmission electron microscopy image of fibrils formed from the Sup35 NM protein. The fibrils demonstrate natural alignment and are shown at low and high magnification on the left and right respectively (Scheibel et al., 2003). The scale bars are 1 im and 200 nm in length, respectively (copyright The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, all rights reserved, 2003).

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