Determination of the intershell conductance in multiwalled carbon nanotubes -: art. no. 176806

We report on the intershell electron transport in multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs). To do this, local and nonlocal four-point measurements are used to study the current path through the different shells of a MWNT. For short electrode separations less than or similar to1 mum the current mainly flows through the two outer shells, described by a resistive transmission line with an intershell conductance per length of similar to(10 kOmega)(-1)/mum. The intershell transport is tunnel type and the transmission is consistent with the estimate based on the overlap between pi orbitals of neighboring shells.