Description:

These are the first experimental electron microscope images published reporting the discovery of carbon nanotubes.  The earlier synthesis of molecular carbon structures in the form of C60 and other fullerenes (buckyballs) stimulated intense interest in the structures accessible to graphitic carbon sheets.  These novel new finite carbon structures consisting of needle-like tubes were produced using an arc-discharge evaporation method similar to that used for fullerene synthesis.  Electron microscopy reveals that each needle comprises coaxial tubes of graphitic sheets, ranging in number from 2 up to about 50. On each tube the carbon-atom hexagons are arranged in a helical fashion about the needle axis. The helical pitch varies from needle to needle and from tube to tube within a single needle. It appears that this helical structure may aid the growth process. The formation of these needles, ranging from a few to a few tens of nanometres in diameter, suggests that engineering of carbon structures should be possible on scales considerably greater than those relevant to the fullerenes.  Nanotubes have since become one of the most intensely studied materials in nanotechnology applications.
 

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