2004/03/23 by Xinluo Zhao, Yuqian Liu, Sakae Inoue +3 · 2 citations
Materials Science · #Carbon Nanotubes in Composites #Graphene research and applications #Boron and Carbon Nanomaterials Research
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.92.125502
openalex publication_date 2004/03/23 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/18
Previous energetic considerations have led to the belief that carbon nanotubes (CNTs) of 4 \AA in diameter are the smallest stable CNTs. Using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, we find that a stable 3 \AA CNT can be grown inside a multiwalled carbon nanotube. Density functional calculations indicate that the 3 \AA CNT is the armchair CNT(2,2) with a radial breathing mode at 787 cm^\ensuremath-1. Each end can be capped by half of a C12 cage (hexagonal prism) containing tetragons.