Understanding the role of a nanotube host in stabilizing carbyne

16.08.2018

Carbyne is a very reactive carbon allotrope that can be stabilized as ultra-long chains inside nanotubes. Two recent highlights of T. Pichler's group show how nanotube chirality determines the properties of encapsulated carbon chains and how their extraction via density gradient ultracentrifugation unravels the role of the carbon nanotube host. These results pave the way for the future application of these materials in sensing and optoelectronics.

These publications in ACS Nano and Nano Letters are resulting from a close cooperation between T. Pichler's group and L. Novotny's group at ETH Zürich, K. Yanagi's group at Tokyo Metropolitan University, and U. Kaiser's group at the University of Ulm.

Extraction of Linear Carbon Chains Unravels the Role of the Carbon Nanotube Host
Lei Shi, Kazuhiro Yanagi, Kecheng Cao, Ute Kaiser, Paola Ayala, and Thomas Pichler
ACS Nano, DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.8b04006

Carbon Nanotube Chirality Determines Properties of Encapsulated Linear Carbon Chain
Sebastian Heeg, Lei Shi, Lisa V. Poulikakos, Thomas Pichler, and Lukas Novotny
Nano Letters, DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.8b01681

ACS Nano DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.8b04006 and Nano Lett. DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.8b01681