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Published online: 1 September 2010 | doi:10.1038/nchina.2010.103

Nanotechnology: Carbon scrolls

Anne Pichon

Introduction

© (2010) ACS

Carbon nanotubes and graphene sheets, widely renowned for their rich mechanical and physical properties, have diverse applications in electronics and optics. Qingzhong Xue at the China University of Petroleum in Dongying, Mingdong Dong at the University of Aarhus in Denmark and co-workers¹ have now explored the possibility of making new structures from carbon nanotubes and graphene sheets through self-assembly.

The researchers used simulations of molecular dynamics to show that a graphene sheet placed near a carbon nanotube (with diameter larger than ten ångström) would naturally wrap itself around the nanotube to form a nanoscroll. They also showed that larger graphene sheets would result in structures resembling multiwalled carbon nanotubes.

It is possible to control the properties of the nanoscroll by changing the diameter of the carbon nanotube and the size of the graphene sheet. Moreover, the chirality of carbon nanotubes and graphene sheets (that is, the way the carbon atoms are arranged) determines their conductivity. The researchers showed that chirality does not interfere with the wrapping process, making the approach suitable for fabricating a variety of structures, including metal–metal, semiconductor–metal and semiconductor–semiconductor junctions.

The authors of this work are from:
College of Physics Science and Technology, China University of Petroleum, Dongying, Shandong, China; Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO) and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark.

Reference

1. Xia, D. et al. Fabrication of carbon nanoscrolls from monolayer graphene. Small doi:10.1002/smll.201000646 (2010). | Article | OpenURL