An ultimate goal in the field of carbon nanotube research is
to synthesise single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) with controlled
chiralities. Twenty years after the discovery of SWNTs, scientists from Aalto
University in Finland, A.M. Prokhorov General Physics Institute RAS in Russia
and the Center for Electron Nanoscopy of Technical University of Denmark (DTU)
have managed to control chirality in carbon nanotubes during their chemical
vapor deposition synthesis.
Carbon nanotube structure is defined by a pair of integers
known as chiral indices (n,m), in other words, chirality.
– Chirality defines the optical and electronic properties of
carbon nanotubes, so controlling it is a key to exploiting their practical
applications, says Professor Esko I. Kauppinen, the leader of the Nanomaterials
Group in Aalto University School of Science.