Tensile strength of carbon nanotubes depends on their chiral structures

Single-walled carbon nanotubes should theoretically be extremely strong, but it remains unclear why their experimental tensile strengths are lower and vary among nanotubes. A team at Nagoya University, Kyoto University, and Aichi Institute of Technology directly measured the tensile strengths of individual structure-defined single-walled carbon nanotubes, revealing key insights into the relationship between their structure and strength.