title: Synthesis of graphene nanoribbons encapsulated in single-walled carbon nanotubes.
abstract: A novel material, graphene nanoribbons encapsulated in single-walled carbon nanotubes (GNR@SWNT), was synthesized using confined polymerization and fusion of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules. Formation of the GNR is possible due to confinement effects provided by the one-dimensional space inside nanotubes, which helps to align coronene or perylene molecules edge to edge to achieve dimerization and oligomerization of the molecules into long nanoribbons. Almost 100% filling of SWNT with GNR is achieved while nanoribbon length is limited only by the length of the encapsulating nanotube. The PAH fusion reaction provides a very simple and easily scalable method to synthesize GNR@SWNT in macroscopic amounts. First-principle simulations indicate that encapsulation of the GNRs is energetically favorable and that the electronic structure of the encapsulated GNRs is the same as for the free-standing ones, pointing to possible applications of the GNR@SWNT structures in photonics and nanoelectronics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Umeå University , S-90187 Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Alexandr V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Talyzin
authors.forename: Ilya V
authors.initials: IV
authors.lastname: Anoshkin
authors.forename: Arkady V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Krasheninnikov
authors.forename: Risto M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Nieminen
authors.forename: Albert G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Nasibulin
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Esko I
authors.initials: EI
authors.lastname: Kauppinen