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An encapsulated helical one-dimensional cobalt iodide nanostructure

Nature Materials volume 2, pages 788–791 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) can be used as templates for the growth of low-dimensional inorganic materials whose structures and properties often differ greatly from those of the bulk1. Here we describe the detailed crystallography of an entire helical one-dimensional cobalt diiodide nanostructure encapsulated within a SWNT. This material has an unprecedented twisted double tetrahedral chain structure arising from a rotation of Co2I4 units along its length. The complete nanostructure comprises two distinct regions with oppositely handed helices separated by a short disordered region. The encapsulating SWNT shows a commensurate ovoid distortion reflecting an unexpectedly strong interaction between the nanostructure and the SWNT.

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Figure 1: Detailed structure of the encapsulated CoI2 nanostructure.
Figure 2: Overall helical structure of the encapsulated CoI2 nanostructure.
Figure 3: End-on views of a space-filling model with atoms represented by spheres according to their size.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge financial support from EPSRC, The Royal Society and the Leverhulme Trust.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QR, UK

    Eilidh Philp, Jeremy Sloan, Steffi Friedrichs & Malcolm L. H. Green

  2. Department of Materials, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PH, UK

    Jeremy Sloan, Angus I. Kirkland, Rüdiger R. Meyer & John L. Hutchison

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  1. Eilidh Philp
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  2. Jeremy Sloan
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Correspondence to Jeremy Sloan or Angus I. Kirkland.

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Philp, E., Sloan, J., Kirkland, A. et al. An encapsulated helical one-dimensional cobalt iodide nanostructure. Nature Mater 2, 788–791 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1020

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