Image of the Week - 15 February 2001

The Scheme of the Nucleation of [6,6] CNT via Zipping Mechanism

From top to bottom, the scheme of the NT nucleation process:
Zipping of the edge of double-layer of graphite results in a sleeve structure formation. The radius of the sleeve (NT precursor) grows until the preexisting defect of the graphite sheet stops the blowing. Then a strait opens and the [6,6] nanotube detaches from the graphite "main-land"
Bottom part of the figure shows the calculated Raman-active phonon mode of [6,6] NT. Red arrows depict atomic vibration amplitudes.
For more information please visit: http://hp720.ceg.uiuc.edu/~rotkin/nanotube/ http://www.beckman.uiuc.edu/fellows/zharov.html
The images shown here were created in Cerius2 in the VMIL.

Image Courtesy: Slava V. Rotkin & Ilya Zharov - CE, Beckman Institute

Contact: rotkin@uiuc.edu, zharov@uiuc.edu