Atomic scale growth dynamics of nanocrystals within carbon nanotubes

Journal article

The confined interior region of carbon nanotubes has proved to be an effective "nano-test-tube" to conduct chemical reactions in a restricted volume. It also benefits from being thin and relatively transparent to electrons, enabling structural characterization using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. This permits real-time monitoring of chemical reactions with atomic resolution. Here, we have studied the dynamics of single Pr atoms released from Pr2@C72 metallofullerenes. We show that the Pr atoms form small nanoclusters that subsequently coalesce to ordered, stable nanocrystals within the confines of a carbon nanotube. This process has been tracked in situ with atomic-resolution using low-voltage aberration-corrected high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. We reveal that nanocrystal formation within a nanotube does not generally occur by the addition of single atoms to one pre-existing cluster but rather through aggregation of several smaller clusters. These results provide some of the deepest insights into the dynamics of single-atom behavior in the solid state. © 2011 American Chemical Society.

Authors: Warner, J; Plant, SR; Young, N; Porfyrakis, K; Kirkland, A

• Journal: ACS Nano
• Volume: 5
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 1410-1417
• Publication date: 2011-02-22
• DOI: 10.1021/nn1031802
• EISSN: 1936-086X
• ISSN: 1936-0851
• Language: English
• Keywords: nanotubes; peapods; nanocrystals; HRTEM; aberration-corrected