InspiteofthecurrentprevalenceoftheCVD-basedprocesses,theelectricarcremainsaninterestingprocessforthesynthesisofcarbonnanoforms,thankstoitsversatility,robustnessandeasiness.Italsoallowsperformingin-situsubstitutionofcarbonatomsbyhetero-elementsinthegraphenelattice.Ourworkaimstoestablishacorrelationbetweentheplasmaproperties,typeandchemicalcomposition(andthesubstitutionrate)oftheobtainedsingle-wallcarbonnanotubes.TheplasmawascharacterizedbyopticalemissionspectroscopyandtheproductswereanalyzedbyhighresolutiontransmissionelectronmicroscopyandcorelevelElectronEnergy-LossSpectroscopy(EELS).Resultsshowthatahighboroncontentleadstoaplasmatemperaturedecreaseandhinderstheformationofnanotubes.Thiseffectcanbecompensatedbyincreasingthearccurrentand/oryttriumcontent.Theoptimalconditionsforthesynthesisofboron-and/ornitrogen-substitutednanotubescorrespondtoahighaxialplasmatemperatureassociatedtoastrongradialgradient.EELSanalysisconfirmedthattheboronincorporatesintothegraphemelattice.
