Guest_Jim_* Posted April 24, 2015 Posted April 24, 2015 Nanotubes are among the carbon allotropes that have piqued the interest of many since their discovery, thanks to their special properties. One of the hopes for these materials is that they can be used to create advanced electronic devices. Now researchers at Rice University have found that some important properties can be tuned for double-walled nanotubes. Carbon nanotubes are long cylinders of carbon atoms, arranged in hexagons, and come in various forms, include single and multi-walled. Single-walled nanotubes are made of a single cylinder, whereas multi-walled nanotubes are comprised of multiple concentric tubes, and are stronger and stiffer than the single-walled versions. It turns out that double-walled nanotubes exist in a nice place as they have some of the useful properties of single-walled nanotubes, while still being stronger and stiffer. Now the Rice researchers have determined, with atomic-level models, that the properties of double-walled nanotubes can be tuned by manipulating specific properties. For example, the band gap can be controlled by altering the separation between the inner and outer tubes, if the inner tube is semiconducting and outer tube is metallic. At the moment there is sadly no way to control the growth of double-walled nanotubes with the necessary accuracy, but this research still indicates a great future for such efforts. Also other configurations of nanotubes could have other properties beneficial for various applications. Source: Rice University Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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