Image of the Week - 04 November 2008

This image, of a simulation created using the program SIESTA, illustrates two kinds of defects that may be encountered in carbon nanotubes. In red: the atomic rearrangement around a carbon atom vacancy; and in yellow: a c-c bond anomalous rotation (Stones-Wales) defect. The Leburton group investigates the atomistic properties of carbon nanotubes and graphene by simulation techniques as part of an effort to understand charge transport within the carbon nanostructure. (http://www.beckman.illinois.edu/directory/jleburto)