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A novel hybrid carbon material

Nature Nanotechnology volume 2, pages 156–161 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Both fullerenes and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) exhibit many advantageous properties1. Despite the similarities between these two forms of carbon, there have been very few attempts to physically merge them2,3. We have discovered a novel hybrid material that combines fullerenes and SWNTs into a single structure in which the fullerenes are covalently bonded to the outer surface of the SWNTs. These fullerene-functionalized SWNTs, which we have termed NanoBuds, were selectively synthesized in two different one-step continuous methods, during which fullerenes were formed on iron-catalyst particles together with SWNTs during CO disproportionation. The field-emission characteristics of NanoBuds suggest that they may possess advantageous properties compared with single-walled nanotubes or fullerenes alone, or in their non-bonded configurations.

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Figure 1: TEM observation of NanoBud structures.
Figure 2: Characterization of NanoBuds.
Figure 3: Bonding scenarios of fullerenes on SWNTs.
Figure 4: Field-emission properties of NanoBuds.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank V. Pore, A.-S. Jääskeläinen, M. Leskelä and Sangsun Yang for their assistance with UV–vis and field emission measurements. Financial support from the Academy of Finland and the Creative Research Initiatives Program supported by the Korean Ministry of Science and Technology is acknowledged. Partial financial support for this work has been provided by NSF NSEC grant no. 425826. G.L. thanks JSPS for financial support.

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Author notes

  1. Anna Moisala

    Present address: Present address: University of Cambridge, Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, Cambridge, UK,

  2. Sergey D. Shandakov: On leave from Kemerovo State University, Russia

Authors and Affiliations

  1. NanoMaterials Group, Laboratory of Physics and Center for New Materials, Helsinki University of Technology, PO Box 1000, Espoo, 02044, Finland

    Albert G. Nasibulin, David P. Brown, Anton S. Anisimov, Paula Queipo, Anna Moisala, David Gonzalez, Sergey D. Shandakov & Esko I. Kauppinen

  2. National CRI Center for Nano Particle Control, Institute of Advanced Machinery and Design, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, 151-742, Korea

    Peter V. Pikhitsa & Mansoo Choi

  3. VTT Biotechnology, PO Box 1000, Espoo, 02044, Finland

    Hua Jiang & Esko I. Kauppinen

  4. Department of Engineering Physics and Mathematics, Laboratory of Physics, Helsinki University of Technology, Espoo, 02044, Finland

    Arkady V. Krasheninnikov

  5. Accelerator Laboratory, University of Helsinki, PO Box 43, Helsinki, FIN-00014, Finland

    Arkady V. Krasheninnikov

  6. Nanotechnology Research Institute, AIST, Tsukuba, 305-8568, Ibaraki, Japan

    Günther Lientschnig & Abdou Hassanien

  7. Chemical Biological and Materials Engineering, University of Oklahoma, 100 E Boyd SEC-T137, Norman, 73019, Oklahoma, USA

    Giulio Lolli & Daniel E. Resasco

  8. Physics and Astronomy Department, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, 48824-2320, USA

    David Tománek

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Contributions

A.G.N., P.V.P. and E.I.K. conceived and designed the experiments. H.J., P.V.P., A.S.A., D.P.B., P.Q., D.G., A.M. and G.L. performed the experiments. A.G.N., P.V.P., E.I.K., D.B.P., S.D.S., D.E.R. and M.C. analysed and interpreted the data. A.G.N., D.P.B., P.V.P., E.I.K., A.H., A.V.K. and D.T. co-wrote the paper. A.V.K. is responsible for computer atomic simulations. G.L. and A.H. are responsible for STM measurements. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Albert G. Nasibulin or Esko I. Kauppinen.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary figures S1—S11 (PDF 1849 kb)

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Nasibulin, A., Pikhitsa, P., Jiang, H. et al. A novel hybrid carbon material. Nature Nanotech 2, 156–161 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2007.37

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