Rice University lab calculates unique electronic qualities
of double-walled carbon nanotubes
(April 16, 2015) Rice
University researchers have determined that two walls are better than one when
turning carbon nanotubes into materials like strong, conductive fibers or
transistors.
Rice materials scientist Enrique Barrera and his colleagues
used atomic-level models of double-walled nanotubes to see how they might be
tuned for applications that require particular properties. They knew from
others’ work that double-walled nanotubes are stronger and stiffer than their
single-walled cousins. But they found it may someday be possible to tune
double-walled tubes for specific electronic properties by controlling their
configuration, chiral angles and the distance between the walls.