Nature 363, 605 - 607 (17 June 1993); doi:10.1038/363605a0

Cobalt-catalysed growth of carbon nanotubes with single-atomic-layer walls

D. S. Bethune, C. H. Klang^*, M. S. de Vries, G. Gorman, R. Savoy, J. Vazquez & R. Beyers

IBM Research Division, Almaden Research Center, 650 Harry Road, San Jose, California 95120-6099, USA
^*Affiliated with the Materials and Molecular Simulation Center, Beckman Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.

CARBON exhibits a unique ability to form a wide range of structures. In an inert atmosphere it condenses to form hollow, spheroidal fullerenes^1–4. Carbon deposited on the hot tip of the cathode of the arc-discharge apparatus used for bulk fullerene synthesis will form nested graphitic tubes and polyhedral particles^5–8. Electron irradiation of these nanotubes and polyhedra transforms them into nearly spherical carbon 'onions'⁹. We now report that covaporizing carbon and cobalt in an arc generator leads to the formation of carbon nanotubes which all have very small diameters (about 1.2 nm) and walls only a single atomic layer thick. The tubes form a web-like deposit woven through the fullerene-containing soot, giving it a rubbery texture. The uniformity and single-layer structure of these nanotubes should make it possible to test their properties against theoretical predictions^10–13.

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