CPM Seminar

Atomic Structure of Nanotubes and Nano-Clusters

Jian-Min (Jim) Zuo

Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

A step attachment model for carbon nanotube growth proposed based on electron diffraction data.

Atomic structure is critical to the properties of nanomaterials. The outstanding example is carbon nanotubes, which can be semiconductive or metallic depending on the tube chiral vector. Understanding the atomic structure and their dependence on growth conditions is thus critical to control the properties of nanotubes. In other nanostructures, such as nanodots or particles, surface plays an important role for photoluminescence, catalytic activities and energy storage, but little we know about their surface structure. We use nanoarea electron diffraction (NED) for structure determination of individual nanostructures. In this technique, a nanometer-sized, coherent, parallel electron beam is used to record electron diffraction patterns. This talk will report what we have learnt from electron diffraction about the atomic structures of nanomaterials. The talk is divided into two parts. The first part will cover the structure of single and multi wall carbon nanotubes and what we learnt about their growth. The second part will focus on metallic nanoparticles and their surface structure. The materials covered here are highly relevant to students and researches interested in the application of nanotubes and nanopartcles. The talk should also be interesting to those interested in atomic structure and characterization.