Self-assembled novel materials: From transition metal clusters to carbon nanotubes

Novel materials have been self-assembled in the plasma generated by laser vaporization of targets under various conditions. This technique along with the Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance (FT-ICR) supersonic cluster beam apparatus and transmission electron microscope (TEM) makes it possible to study both the properties and the growth mechanisms of these new materials. Based on the experimental results and theoretical studies employed the self-consistent (SCF) Hartree-Fock (HF) method and density functional theory (DFT), the growth mechanisms of metallofullerenes referred as extended isolated pentagon rules (EIPR), of single-walled carbon nanotubes denoted as size-limited break-diffusion-formation (SLBDF) mechanism and of multi-walled tubes as lip-lip interaction, have been proposed. The laser-vaporization technique has also been found to be able to produce higher yield and less amorphous carbon covered single-walled nanotubes than does the DC arc discharge