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Letter

Nature Nanotechnology 2, 156–161 (1 March 2007) | doi:10.1038/nnano.2007.37

A novel hybrid carbon material

Albert G. Nasibulin , Peter V. Pikhitsa , Hua Jiang , David P. Brown , Arkady V. Krasheninnikov , Anton S. Anisimov , Paula Queipo , Anna Moisala , David Gonzalez , G|[uuml]|nther Lientschnig , Abdou Hassanien , Sergey D. Shandakov , Giulio Lolli , Daniel E. Resasco , Mansoo Choi , David Tom|[aacute]|nek & Esko I. Kauppinen

Both fullerenes and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) exhibit many advantageous properties. Despite the similarities between these two forms of carbon, there have been very few attempts to physically merge them. We have discovered a novel hybrid material that combines fullerenes and SWNTs into a single structure in which the fullerenes are covalently bonded to the outer surface of the SWNTs. These fullerene-functionalized SWNTs, which we have termed NanoBuds, were selectively synthesized in two different one-step continuous methods, during which fullerenes were formed on iron-catalyst particles together with SWNTs during CO disproportionation. The field-emission characteristics of NanoBuds suggest that they may possess advantageous properties compared with single-walled nanotubes or fullerenes alone, or in their non-bonded configurations.