Characterization of fluorinated multiwalled carbon nanotubes by x-ray absorption spectroscopy

The C 1s and F 1s x-ray absorption spectra of fluorinated multiwalled carbon nanotubes with different fluorine contents and reference compounds (highly oriented pyrolytic graphite crystals and white graphite fluoride) were measured using the equipment of the Russian-German beamline at the BESSY II storage ring with a high energy resolution. The spectra obtained were analyzed with the aim of characterizing multiwalled carbon nanotubes and their products formed upon treatment of the nanotubes with fluorine at a temperature of 420 degrees C. It was established that, within the probing depth (similar to 15 nm) of carbon nanotubes, the process of fluorination occurs uniformly and does not depend on the fluorine concentration. The interaction of fluorine atoms with multiwalled carbon nanotubes in this case proceeds through the covalent attachment of fluorine atoms to graphene layers of the graphite skeleton and is accompanied by a change in the hybridization of the 2s and 2p valence electron states of the carbon atom from the trigonal (sp(2)) to tetrahedral (sp(3)) hybridization.