Scientists construct a stable one-dimensional metallic material

said braka 4:09 AM
The researchers, from the Universities of Cambridge and

Warwick, have developed a wire made from a single string of  , making it a true one-dimensional material. These one-dimensional wires are produced inside extremely thin carbon nanotubes (CNTs) – hollow cylinders made of . The finished 'extreme nanowires' are less than a billionth of a metre in diameter – 10,000 times thinner than a human hair.
A single string of atoms is as small as materials based on elements in the periodic table can get, making them potentially useful for semiconductors and other electronic applications. However, these strings can be unstable, as their atoms are constantly vibrating and, in the absence of a physical constraint, they can end up morphing into some other structure or disintegrating entirely.
According to the Cambridge researchers, encapsulating the nanowires is not only a useful method of making stable one-dimensional (1D) materials, it may be necessary to prevent them from disintegrating. The researchers have also shown that it is possible to alter the shape and electronic behaviour of the nanowires by varying the diameters of the tubes which encapsulate them. Their results are reported in the journal ACS Nano.


Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-05-scientists-stable-one-dimensional-metallic-material.html#jCp