Site-selective radiation damage of collapsed carbon nanotubes

Carbon nanotubes can flatten into collapsed tubes with bulbs along either edge. The strong anisotropy in the graphitic radiation damage threshold both explains the rapid destruction of face-on flattened nanotubes and can be exploited to selectively modify the structure of edge-on flattened nanotubes, thereby creating one-dimensional sp2 carbon with noncontinuous transverse boundary conditions