Metallic nanoparticles on plasma treated carbon nanotubes: Nanohybrids

Multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were decorated with metal clusters by thermal evaporation. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) shows that the nature and extent of metal coverage can be varied by plasma treating the MWCNT surface. The metal clusters on oxygen plasma treated arc-discharge MWCNTs have a more dense distribution than the clusters evaporated on as-synthesized arc-discharge MWCNTs. In contrast, the plasma treatment did not affect the cluster distribution on CVD MWCNTs. Analyses of the valence band and the core levels by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy suggest poor charge transfer between gold clusters and MWCNTs; on the contrary suggest good charge transfer between Ni clusters and MWCNTs.     

Thermal and chemical nanofractal relaxation

We studied shape relaxation of nano-fractal islands, during annealing, after their growth from antimony cluster deposition on graphite surface. Annealing at 180^°C shows evidence of an increase of the fractal branch width with time followed by branch fragmentation, without changing the fractal dimension. The time evolution of the width of the arm suggests the surface self-diffusion mechanism as the main relaxation process. With Monte Carlo simulations, we confirmed the observed behavior. Comparison is done with our previous results on fragmentation of nano-fractal silver islands when impurity added to the incident cluster promotes rapid fragmentation by surface self-diffusion enhancement [1].     

A comparative study on the interaction between tin(II) porphyrin and selected group 8B metals for potential application as reduction catalysts

We study the interaction between tin(II) porphyrin (SnPor) with platinum and non-precious Group 8B metals (iron, cobalt and nickel) by density functional theory and discuss the electronic properties of the resulting products. We also model the interaction of the resulting compounds with water where applicable. Our studies indicate that, SnPor-Ni possesses electronic properties similar to SnPor-Pt, suggesting that it may possess similar photocatalytic properties for reduction reactions, such as converting water to hydrogen gas.     

Magnetic properties of multiwalled carbon nanotubes as a function of acid treatment

We investigate the electronic properties of multiwalled carbon nanotubes both before and after acid treatment with concentrated sulphuric and nitric acids. Magnetic susceptibility measurements were performed using a SQUID magnetometer and show that there is a considerable enhancement in the density of states at the Fermi level. The data shows that the diamagnetic influence from the graphitic nanotubes dominates. We experimentally observe, after acid treatment, that the diamagnetic susceptibility remains unchanged at 5 K but notably decreases at 77 K. We propose the acid treatment has increased the Van Vleck paramagnetic contribution lowering the diamagnetic response from the π-electron orbital magnetisation. The Van Vleck paramagnetic contribution is finite-temperature dependent with a diminishing contribution at higher fields.     

Solvothermal synthesis of TiO2: anatase nanocrystals and rutile nanofibres from TiCl4 in acetone

This work reports a new synthetic approach for single‐phase TiO₂ nanomaterials by solvothermal treatment of titanium tetrachloride in acetone at 80–110 °C. Small, uniform, and yet size‐tunable (5–10 nm) anatase titania nanocrystallites were obtained using a low concentration of TiCl₄ in acetone (i.e., at molar ratios of TiCl₄/acetone ≤ 1:15) in the temperature range of 80–110 °C, while rutile nanofibers were synthesized using a high concentration of TiCl₄ (e.g., TiCl₄/acetone = 1:10) at 110 °C. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

脉冲磁场处理对碳纳米管掺杂MgB2线材临界电流密度的影响

对碳纳米管(CNT)掺杂MgB₂超导体磁场处理后的行为进行了研究. 结果表明，CNT掺杂MgB₂超导体经5T脉冲磁场处理后临界电流密度J_c(H)在低磁场下提高了2—3倍，高场下提高一个数量级以上，扫描电镜结果显示CNT沿着处理磁场方向规则排列并且成为MgB₂基体的形核中心和高效的磁通钉扎中心. 关键词： 2')" href="#">MgB₂ 碳纳米管 脉冲磁场处理     

含有五边形—七边形缺陷的单壁纳米碳管的输运性质研究

运用第一性原理的密度泛函理论结合非平衡格林函数研究了含有五边形—七边形拓扑缺陷的纳米碳管异质结的输运性质.结果发现：拓扑缺陷对碳管的输运性质有很大影响；另外，不同类型的碳管形成的异质结的输运性质也有明显的差异. 关键词： 纳米碳管 输运性质 异质结 透射系数     

掺杂对碳纳米管拉曼光谱及场发射性能的影响

采用高温热解法在860℃分别制备出了镓、氮以及硼和氮掺杂的碳纳米管,提纯后利用丝网印刷工艺分别将它们制备成薄膜,并测试了它们的拉曼光谱与场发射性能。测试结果表明,掺杂纳米管的缺陷密集度比纯碳纳米管明显增大,而它们的场致电子发射性能则与掺杂元素的性质密切相关。镓和氮掺杂的纳米管均具有非常优异的场发射性能,而硼和氮共掺杂的纳米管的场发射性能很差。掺杂引起碳纳米管费米能级附近能态密度的变化及功函数的降低是其具有优异场致电子发射性能的主要原因。     

Nanoscale surface of carbon nanotube fibers for medical applications: Structure and chemistry revealed by TOF-SIMS analysis

Surface structure and related chemistry understanding is a vital element in the design of high biocompatible materials since adsorption and adhesion of biological components are involved. These features are even more important in the case of nanostructured materials such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) fibers. In our preliminary work we synthesised CNTs based fibers for medical applications. This new hybrid system combines polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) with CNTs and polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA), a biodegradable copolymer. The surface properties of this material are investigated in order to guarantee a biocompatible response. Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) was found to be an ideal tool for fiber characterisation owing to its capacity to provide chemical specificity combined with detection limits beyond the reach of techniques previously used. Complementary morphological information is provided by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The corroboration of both data enables us to define the chemistry and structure of this new formulation.     

Converged properties of clean metal surfaces by all-electron first-principles calculations

All-electron full-potential linearized augmented plane-wave calculations of the surface energy, work function, and interlayer spacings of close-packed metal surfaces are presented, in particular, for the free-electron-like metal surfaces, Mg(0 0 0 1) and Al(1 1 1), and for the transition metal surfaces, Ti(0 0 0 1), Cu(1 1 1), Pd(1 1 1), and Pt(1 1 1). We investigate the convergence of the surface energy as a function of the number of layers in the slab, using the Cu(1 1 1) surface as an example. The results show that the surface energy, as obtained using total energies of the slab and bulk from separate calculations, converges well with respect to the number of layers in the slab. Obviously, it is necessary that bulk and surface calculations are performed with the same high accuracy. Furthermore, we discuss the performance of the local-density and generalized gradient approximations for the exchange-correlation functional in describing the various surface properties.