Log Number: P67
Abstract Submitted to the    NANOTUBE'04 Conference:

A one-dimensional semiconductor crystal with differentially rotating atomic layers encapsulated within a single-walled carbon nanotube

J. Sloan1,2, R. Carter1,2, A. I. Kirkland2, R. R. Meyer2, J. L. Hutchison2 and M. L. H. Green1

1 Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QR U.K.
2Department of Materials, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PH U.K.
Contact e-mail: jeremy.sloan@chem.ox.ac.uk

One-dimensional (1D) nanowires of the semiconductor HgTe formed from stacked Hg2Te2 layers can be grown within the capillaries of 1.4 nm diameter single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) [1]. Some of these 1D wires undergo an unprecedented form of crystal growth in which the alternating constituent Hg2Te2 layers rotate differentially along the length of the SWNT capillary. Super-resolved transmission electron microscopy images reveal that static Hg2Te2 layers alternates with a secondary mobile Hg2Te2 layer that rotates about the axis of the SWNT in an apparently helical fashion. The effect is attributed to differences in packing behaviour between the alternating layers and differential interactions with the encapsulating SWNT and is thus thought to be a unique property of encapsulated nanowires.

[1] R. Carter, J. Sloan, A. I. Kirkland, R. R. Meyer, J. L. Hutchison and M. L. H. Green, 2004, submitted.

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