| Research Abstract |
In this research, it was aimed to clarify the micro structure of nanotubes and their application to material science. For its purpose, a large amounts of nanotubes are necessary and required. In this two years, we have succeeded to get high quality multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) in some quantity. Their application to material science has been just started.
By DC arc discharge evaporation of pure graphite rod in pure hydrogen gas, high quality MWNTs of high aspect ratio larger than 1000 and highly crystarized ones could be obtained. Other characteristic feature of the MWNTs is that the inner tube is very thin. The smallest inner tube is 0.4 nm, which value is the smallest one theoretically expected. In Raman spectra, the peak of breathing modes corresponding to the thin inner tubes could be observed. Quantitative productions of such high quality MWNTs are planned now.
In order to get a large quantity of SWNTs by arc discharge, we developed a new arc plasma method by inclining the electrode. As the result, soots including 50% SWNTs were obtained in the order of a few gram in a few minutes. It can be tested to practical application, but purification of SWNTs is still left problem.
|
