title: Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy observation of sub-nano-sized molybdenum carbide crystals in carbon nanotubes.
abstract: Cross-sectional observation of molybdenum carbide nanocrystals inside carbon nanotubes was successfully conducted in this study. The nanocrystals were generated by irradiating as-synthesized encapsulated molybdenum oxide crystals with an intense electron beam; the most probable composition of the crystals was determined to be α-MoC1-x by electron diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Thinning processes using a focused ion beam and an Ar-ion mill enabled cross-sectional observations along the tube axis. As a result, it became clear that the molybdenum carbide crystals show translational symmetry with a parallelogram configuration having preferred {111} facets when observed from the [110] direction, despite the sub-nanometer order of the crystals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Material and Life Science, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamada-oka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan. sagawa@atom.mls.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Ryusuke
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sagawa
authors.forename: Kosuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kurushima
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Otsuka
authors.forename: Yoshizo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takai
mesh_terms: D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D008982:Molybdenum / Q000032:analysis; D053758:Nanoparticles; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D013052:Spectrometry, X-Ray Emission
chemical_list: D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon; C574181:molybdenum carbide; D008982:Molybdenum