Structurally pure carbon nanotubes synthesized

For more than two decades carbon nanotubes have captured the minds of researchers because of their fascinating mechanical, thermal and electronic properties. These tubes could help create much smaller electronic and electro-optical components with much more efficiency and faster switching times. The prospect of these future advancements, the practical utility of such structures as well as their fundamental academic value has made them the paragon of nano-materials.

Single wall carbon nano-fibers are considered quantum structures with a diameter of around one nanometre. Extremely minor structural changes like a difference in the alignment of their atomic lettuce can result in surprisingly varying characteristics. One SWCNT may be metallic while the other may turn out to be a semi-conductor, so in order to increase workability and applicability the SWCNTs need to be structurally uniform and that is where the interest of the intensive research lies. What is more interesting is the fact that the synthesis concepts were formulated about 15 years ago but only now surface physicists at Empa and chemists at the Max Planck Institute have replicated and implemented one of the ideas in a laboratory.

The Empa team was working under the direction of Roman Fasel, Head of “nanotech@surfaces” Laboratory at Empa and Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Berne, has been investigating “how molecules can be transformed or joined together to form complex nano-structures on a surface” for example through the bottoms-up synthesis they were able to make carbon nano-tubes shrunk in to a ball. According to Fasel, “ The great challenge was to find the suitable starting molecule that would also actually ‘germinate’ on a flat surface from the correct seed.” Finally a hydrocarbon with no less than 150 atoms was synthesized.

Initially, the flat starting molecule must be transformed into a three dimensional object, the germling. The germ which is a small dome like entity is folded out of the flat molecule. This end cap forms the lid of of the growing SWCNT. Furthermore, more carbon atoms are attached which originate from the catalytic decomposition of ethylene on the hot platinum surface. They position themselves in the edge between the platinum surface and the end cap raising the cap higher and higher and the nano tube grows upwards slowly.

This proves that by using these “germs” it is possible to redefine the growth and consequently the structure of long SWCNTs. The next step is to gain an even better understanding of the way in which SWCNTs grow on a surface.

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Nancy Young

When I was younger I used to spend almost all of my free time playing computer games. My mom and dad would go mental over this. “You’re never going to do anything with your life if you are going to play games all day” they used to say. What was even more unusual was the fact that I played more games than most of the guys in my friend group. Looking back, I have to admit that I probably played a bit too much, but I also learned a lot of great things. When I turned 20 I decided that it was high-time to make some money of my own, but the only jobs I could get were that of waitress or cashier. How exciting. After several excruciating months of serving tables I had a great idea: since I love gaming so much, why don’t I write about it? That’s when I started doing small writing projects on Elance. Eventually, I got an offer for a part-time job. During that time I learned all about content marketing strategies and how search engines work. I started writing about various topics such as technology, health and lifestyle and discovered that I was actually good at it. On November 24, 2014, I became part of the ArgyllFreePress team.