carbon nanotubes are a kind of carbon structure discovered in 1991. They are cage-like "fibers" formed by curling several layers of carbon atoms. This material is light but strong. As one-dimensional nano-materials, carbon nanotubes are light in weight, with perfect hexagonal structure connection, and have many abnormal mechanical, electrical and chemical properties. In the future, it will become a new hot spot in the field of new materials in the market, and it is hollow inside. It can be regarded as being formed by curling graphene sheets, so it can be divided into single-walled carbon nanotubes and multi-walled carbon nanotubes according to the number of graphene sheets. A new generation of materials, carbon nanotubes, has emerged in Industry-University-Research. One of the ultimate goals of this research field is to synthesize single-walled carbon nanotubes by mastering the chirality of carbon nanotubes, that is, the symmetry of molecules.
Scientists from Aalto University in Finland, prokhorov Institute of General Physics and data transfer unit Electron Microscopy Center have announced that they have mastered more than 5% chirality in carbon nanotubes.
the breakthrough of this key technology means that the commercial exploitation of carbon nanotubes has officially started to meet numerous practical applications.
at the beginning of the discovery of carbon nanotubes, technology and complex processes stopped this technology. One of the major constraints that it can't play a role in practical production is that people can't master its chirality well, which determines the optical and electronic characteristics of carbon nanotubes.
It's like picking up a piece of paper. When you roll it up and put it in a test tube, it will take on a state. And when you roll it at a certain angle, it will take on another look. "Yes, this is how we explain the structure of single-walled carbon nanotubes. Just like curling graphene sheets in different ways in various directions and widths. " Esco Kauppinen, a professor of applied physics at Aalto University Academy of Sciences, said.