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Abstract: We show that, even when the atomic structure of a single-walled carbon nanotube does not have mirror symmetry perpendicular to the tubule axis, the electron diffraction patterns of the single-walled carbon nanotube always possess 2mm symmetry. We have also analyzed the contributions of higher order Bessel functions to the intensity distribution on the layer lines and found that (a) their contributions are negligible and (b) they would not affect the symmetry of the diffraction pattern. Both experimental and simulated electron diffraction patterns of a single-walled carbon nanotube of indices (14, 9) are presented to illustrate the 2mm symmetry and to corroborate the theoretical analysis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We report a method that allows direct, systematic, and accurate determination of the atomic structure of multiwalled carbon nanotubes by analyzing the scattering intensities on the nonequatorial layer lines in the electron diffraction pattern. Complete structure determination of a quadruple-walled carbon nanotube is described as an example, and it was found that the intertubular distance varied from 0.36 nm to 0.5 nm with a mean value of 0.42 nm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]