Letter abstract
Nature Nanotechnology 3, 337 - 341 (2008)
Published online: 25 May 2008 | doi:10.1038/nnano.2008.126
Subject Categories: Carbon nanotubes and fullerenes | Structural properties
Atomically resolved mechanical response of individual metallofullerene molecules confined inside carbon nanotubes
Makoto Ashino1,
Dirk Obergfell2,
Miro Halu
ka2,3,
Shihe Yang4,
Andrei N. Khlobystov5,
Siegmar Roth2
&
Roland Wiesendanger1
Abstract
The hollow core inside a carbon nanotube1 can be used to confine single molecules2, 3 and it is now possible to image the movement of such molecules inside nanotubes4, 5. To date, however, it has not been possible to control this motion, nor to detect the forces moving the molecules, despite experimental and theoretical evidence suggesting that almost friction-free motion might be possible inside the nanotubes6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. Here, we report on precise measurements of the mechanical responses of individual metallofullerene molecules (Dy@C82) confined inside single-walled carbon nanotubes to the atom at the tip of an atomic force microscope operated in dynamic mode14, 15. Using three-dimensional force mapping with atomic resolution16, we addressed the molecules from the exterior of the nanotube and measured their elastic and inelastic behaviour by simultaneously detecting the attractive forces and energy losses with three-dimensional, atomic-scale resolution.
-
Institute of Applied Physics and Microstructure Research Centre, University of Hamburg, Jungiusstra
e 11, 20355 Hamburg, Germany
-
Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Heisenbergstrae 1, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
- Micro- and NanoScale Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, PO Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands
- Department of Chemistry, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
- School of Chemistry, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
Correspondence to: Makoto Ashino1 e-mail: mashino@physnet.uni-hamburg.de
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