Reactions of the inner surface of carbon nanotubes and nanoprotrusion processes imaged at the atomic scale.

Although the outer surface of single-walled carbon nanotubes (atomically thin cylinders of carbon) can be involved in a wide range of chemical reactions, it is generally thought that the interior surface of nanotubes is unreactive. In this study, we show that in the presence of catalytically active atoms of rhenium inserted into nanotubes, the nanotube sidewall can be engaged in chemical reactions from the inside. Aberration-corrected high-resolution transmission electron microscopy operated at 80 keV allows visualization of the formation of nanometre-sized hollow protrusions on the nanotube sidewall at the atomic level in real time at ambient temperature. Our direct observations and theoretical modelling demonstrate that the nanoprotrusions are formed in three stages: (i) metal-assisted deformation and rupture of the nanotube sidewall, (ii) the fast formation of a metastable asymmetric nanoprotrusion with an open edge and (iii) a slow symmetrization process that leads to a stable closed nanoprotrusion.

Electronic interactions between "pea" and "pod": the case of oligothiophenes encapsulated in carbon nanotubes.

One of the most challenging strategies to achieve tunable nanophotonic devices is to build robust nanohybrids with variable emission in the visible spectral range, while keeping the merits of pristine single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). This goal is realized by filling SWNTs ("pods") with a series of oligothiophene molecules ("peas"). The physical properties of these peapods are depicted by using aberration-corrected high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and other optical methods including steady-state and time-resolved measurements. Visible photoluminescence with quantum yields up to 30% is observed for all the hybrids. The underlying electronic structure is investigated by density functional theory calculations for a series of peapods with different molecular lengths and tube diameters, which demonstrate that van der Waals interactions are the bonding mechanism between the encapsulated molecule and the tube.

Optimization of STEM tomography acquisition--a comparison of convergent beam and parallel beam STEM tomography.

In this paper two imaging modes in a state-of-the-art scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) are compared: conventional STEM with a convergent beam (referred to as nanoprobe) and STEM with a parallel beam (referred to as microprobe). The effect and influence of both modes with respect to their depth of field are investigated. Tomograms of a human white blood cell (hemophagocytes) are acquired, aligned, and evaluated. It is shown that STEM using a parallel beam produces tomograms with fewer distortions and artifacts that allows resolving finer features. Microprobe STEM tomography is advantageous especially in life science, when semi-thin sections (approximately 0.5 microm thick) of biological samples are imaged at relatively low magnification with a large field of view.