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Inorganic nanotubes and fullerene-like nanoparticles

Nature Nanotechnology volume 1, pages 103–111 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Although graphite, with its anisotropic two-dimensional lattice, is the stable form of carbon under ambient conditions, on nanometre length scales it forms zero- and one-dimensional structures, namely fullerenes and nanotubes, respectively. This virtue is not limited to carbon and, in recent years, fullerene-like structures and nanotubes have been made from numerous compounds with layered two-dimensional structures. Furthermore, crystalline and polycrystalline nanotubes of pure elements and compounds with quasi-isotropic (three-dimensional) unit cells have also been synthesized, usually by making use of solid templates. These findings open up vast opportunities for the synthesis and study of new kinds of nanostructures with properties that may differ significantly from the corresponding bulk materials. Various potential applications have been proposed for the inorganic nanotubes and the fullerene-like phases. Fullerene-like nanoparticles have been shown to exhibit excellent solid lubrication behaviour, suggesting many applications in, for example, the automotive and aerospace industries, home appliances, and recently for medical technology. Various other potential applications, in catalysis, rechargeable batteries, drug delivery, solar cells and electronics have also been proposed.

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Figure 1: Presentation of WS2 nanotubes, which are synthesized in large amounts by sulphidizing tungsten oxide nanoparticles in a fluidized bed reactor.
Figure 2: TEM image of a closed-cage (fullerene-like) nested Cs2O nanostructure obtained by intense solar irradiation of pure crystalline Cs2O powder in vacuum.
Figure 3: Naturally occurring nanotubes are made of lattices with built-in asymmetry and have been known for many years1.
Figure 4: Hollow nano-octahedra, 3–6 nm in size and 2–5 layers thick were found in laser-ablated samples of different layered compounds, such as MoS2, NiCl2, SnS2.
Figure 5: The energies per atom Et/N of various MoS2 nanostructures is presented as a function of its size (N is the total number of atoms).
Figure 6: Tensile strength, bending and compression experiments on individual WS2 nanotubes were carried out, providing quantitative data on the mechanical properties of these nanostructures.
Figure 7: Anodization of titanium film, deposited on a conductive glass in acidic solutions containing HF, leads to the formation of a dense array of interconnected polycrystalline titania (TiO2) nanotubes.
Figure 8: A single nanotube metal-oxide solution field effect transistor (MOSolFET) could be considered as the ionic analogue of the electronic field-effect transistor.

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Acknowledgements

I am grateful to M. Bar-Sadan, I. Kaplan-Ashiri, R. Rosentsveig, A. Margolin, A, Albu-Yaron, R. Popovitz-Biro, S. R. Cohen, G. Seifert, M. Jansen, H. D. Wagner and J.M. Gordon for their help. The support of the Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology and the Israel Science Foundation is acknowledged.

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  1. Head of Department of Materials and Interfaces; Director of the Helen and Martin Kimmel Center for Nanoscale Science; holder of the Drake Family Professorial Chair in Nanotechnology, Weizmann Institute of Science,

    R. Tenne

  2. Director of the Helen and Martin Kimmel Center for Nanoscale Science, Rehovot, 76100, Israel

    R. Tenne

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Tenne, R. Inorganic nanotubes and fullerene-like nanoparticles. Nature Nanotech 1, 103–111 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2006.62

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