• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.25-29
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• 2012

The properties of carbon nanotube-metal hybrid nanostructures are critically dependent on the structure and chemistry of the metal-carbon nanotube interface. In this study, the interface between nickel and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) has been investigated using physical vapor-deposited (sputter-deposited) nickel onto the surface of freestanding carbon nanotube arrays processed by nano-imprint lithography (NIL). These interfaces have been characterized by transmission electron microscopy and 3D atom probe tomography. In the nickel nanocrystals growing on the CNT surface, a metastable hexagonal $Ni_3C$-types phase appears to be stabilized. The structural stability of the nickel-CNT interface is also discussed and related to potential implications for the properties of these nanocomposites.