Combinatorial design of molecular seeds for chirality-controlled synthesis of single-walled carbon nanotubes

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 10; no. 1; pp. 3278 - 10
• Main Authors: Tomada, Joerg, Dienel, Thomas, Hampel, Frank, Fasel, Roman, Amsharov, Konstantin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 22.07.2019; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 140/131; 140/58; 639/638/403; 639/638/549; 639/925/357/73; Assembly; Carbon; Chemical synthesis; Chirality; Combinatorial analysis; Fabrication; Feasibility studies; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Nanomaterials; Nanotechnology; Nanotubes; Precursors; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Seeds; Single wall carbon nanotubes
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11192-y

The chirality-controlled synthesis of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) is a major challenge facing current nanomaterials science. The surface-assisted bottom-up fabrication from unimolecular CNT seeds (precursors), which unambiguously predefine the chirality of the tube during the growth, appears to be the most promising approach. This strategy opens a venue towards controlled synthesis of CNTs of virtually any possible chirality by applying properly designed precursor molecules. However, synthetic access to the required precursor molecules remains practically unexplored because of their complex structure. Here, we report a general strategy for the synthesis of molecular seeds for the controlled growth of SWCNTs possessing virtually any desired chirality by combinatorial multi-segmental assembly. The suggested combinatorial approach allows facile assembly of complex CNT precursors (with up to 100 carbon atoms immobilized at strictly predefined positions) just in one single step from complementary segments. The feasibility of the approach is demonstrated on the synthesis of the precursor molecules for 21 different SWCNT chiralities utilizing just three relatively simple building blocks. Bottom-up synthesis from rationally designed precursor molecules is one of the most promising routes to single-walled carbon nanotubes of any desired chirality. Here, the authors present a combinatorial approach to easily assemble a variety of these complex nanotube precursors from simple complementary segments.