Carbon nanotubes participate in chemical reactions for the first time

According to the report of the American Physicist Organization Network on August 17, a research team composed of scientists from the University of Nottingham, UK, has announced that they have changed the internal structure of carbon nanotubes for the first time through nanoscale chemical reactions. This study has overturned previously believed that the internal surface of hollow nanostructures is stable and hard to react. Research shows that changing the shape of carbon nanotubes is an exciting new material that will play an important role in the development of electronic devices such as natural gas storage devices, chemical sensors, and transistors. Related papers were published in the journal Nature and Chemistry.

Leading the study, Dr. Andrei Kolobestov, Ph.D., a chemistry professor at the University of Nottingham, said that for a long time both carbon nanotubes and their concave surfaces were considered inert and difficult to react, so scientists also Carbon nanotubes are often used as nanoreactors. However, in the new study, they stumbled upon the fact that when the active transition metal element was catalyzed in the cavity of the carbon nanotubes, the carbon nanotubes themselves acted as a reactor and a chemical reaction occurred.

Carbon nanotubes are a typical nanostructure with a diameter of about 1 nanometer to 2 nanometers, which is 80,000 times thinner than human hair. Corot Bistoff and his colleagues had previously discovered that carbon nanotubes can be used as catalysts for the production of nanoribbons and published related papers in the journal Nature Materials. This nanobelt is a new potential material that can be used to create faster, smaller, and more powerful computers.

In the latest research, scientists discovered that the chemical reactions of the individual atoms of the metal ruthenium (Re) can change the structure of the inner wall of the nanotube. In collaboration with Ulm University in Germany, and using the Institute's state-of-the-art rectification high-resolution transmission electron microscope (AC-HRTEM), scientists can observe real-time images of transition metal atoms in carbon nanotubes at the atomic level. The researchers found that, initially, the helium-initiated attack first created a defect in the inner wall of the carbon nanotubes, and then "eats" the excess carbon atoms and turns it into a nano-scale protrusion. Subsequently, this protrusion will rapidly increase in size and seal itself, forming a unique carbon structure. Because this protruding structure is very similar to the new green shoots on the branches, the researchers named it "nano buds."

Previously, the nanobud structure was thought to be formed only on the outer surface of carbon nanotubes through the reaction of carbon molecules involved. The new study changed this view, and for the first time found that nanobuds can be formed from the inside.