Emerging Nanotechnologies for Manufacturing

Chapter 5

Engineering the Synthesis of Carbon Nanotubes to Fabricate Novel Nanostructures

M. Mann¹, B. Milne¹ and K. Teo²

¹Cambridge University Engineering Department, Cambridge, UK

²AIXTRON Ltd. Nanoinstruments, Swavesey, Cambridge, UK

5.1 Introduction

Contrary to popular belief, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were not discovered by Iijima¹ in 1991, but they were discovered by Radushkevich and Lukyanovich² in 1952, who published clear transmission electron micrographs of 50-nm diameter tubes made of carbon in the Russian Journal of Physical Chemistry. Unfortunately, because of the political tensions of that time, this work went largely unnoticed. With the discovery that CNTs were responsible for the high strength of Damascus steel³, it became clear ...