Carbon nanotube

A cylindrical nanostructure made of rolled graphene, with carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice. Its diameter, length, and atomic arrangement shape its electrical and mechanical properties.

Graphene: A single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a two-dimensional hexagonal lattice. Rolling this sheet into a cylinder produces the nanotube structure.
Chiral vector: A vector that specifies how a graphene sheet is wrapped to form a carbon nanotube. Its integer coordinates identify the tube’s diameter and wrapping direction.
Sumio Iijima: A Japanese physicist whose 1991 electron-microscopy study helped establish modern research on carbon nanotubes. His images of multiwalled tubes sparked broad scientific attention.
Carbon nanotube composite: A material combining carbon nanotubes with a matrix to modify mechanical, electrical, or thermal properties. Dispersed tubes can reinforce composites or provide conductive pathways.
Carbon nanofiber: A nanoscale carbon fiber whose structure is typically less uniformly cylindrical and graphitic than a carbon nanotube. Its layered or conical structure distinguishes it from a tube of rolled graphene.
Carbon allotropes: Distinct structural forms of elemental carbon, including diamond, graphite, graphene, and fullerenes. Nanotubes are one structural form among carbon’s many allotropes.
Electronic band structure: The allowed energy ranges and forbidden gaps for electrons in a solid. Nanotube wrapping changes the allowed electron states and can create a band gap.
Multiwalled carbon nanotube: A carbon nanotube consisting of multiple concentric cylindrical graphene shells. These were the structures prominently described in Iijima’s 1991 report.
Field-effect transistor: A transistor that controls current through a channel using an electric field. Semiconducting nanotubes can serve as transistor channels.
Graphite: A crystalline form of carbon made of stacked graphene layers with weak interlayer bonding. Graphite retains flat stacked layers rather than a hollow cylindrical lattice.

Linked from 17 pages