The evaluation of van der Waals interaction in the oriented-attachment growth of nanotubes
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The evaluation of van der Waals interaction in the oriented-attachment growth of nanotubes Weixuan Jin,a Weidong He,a ,* Kechun Wen,a Xiao Lin,b, * Yuqian Zhang,a Huanqi Cao,a,c Yuanqiang Song, a Weiqiang Lv, a James H. Dickerson d * a
School of Energy Science and Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology, Chengdu, Sichuan 611731, P. R. China. Email: [email protected]. b
School of Physics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, P. R. China. Email: [email protected]
c
Department of Organic and Polymeric Materials, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1-S8-28 O-okayama, Meguro, Tokyo 152-8552, Japan. d
Department of Physics, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, US. Email: [email protected].
Abstract Taking the advantage of nanomaterials to protect the environment and avoiding the side effect need a fundamental understanding of the growth mechanism of the nanomaterials. Here, the van der Waals interaction between a nanoparticle and a nanotube in the oriented-attachment growth of nanotubes is quantitatively evaluated for the first time. In particular, the correlation between van der Waals interaction and the growth parameters is investigated in depth. Our work opens up the opportunity of studying the important interparticle interactions in the oriented attachment growth of nanotubes. Keywords: Environment; Oriented-attachment Growth; van der Waals Interaction; Nanotube; Nanoparticle Introduction Nanotubes (NTs) have been extensively studied and show great application potentials in the fields of environmental science and engineering, especially, in the area of environmental protection.1 For instance, due to the high surface area and the hollow structures, NTs can act as adsorbents of radionuclides and heavy metals to clean the soil and water supplies;2-7 NTs are also investigated to detect, catalytically degrade organic pollutants and remove biological substances.8-16 On the other hand, the big amount of solvents and other harmful chemicals used for manufacturing nanotubes along with nanotubes themselves may cause serious health effects and environmental problems.17-22 To synthetize these novel nanomaterials via non-toxic methods, tune their properties by controlling their structures, apply them to various fields while avoiding their potential adverse effects on environment and human health, a fundamental understanding on the growth mechanism of the nanomaterials is necessary. Ostwald ripening is widely used to describe the growth of nanomaterials in solvents.23 However, Ostwald ripening cannot explain the growth of certain crystals, especially the growth of certain nanostructures.24-28 Penn et al. proposed an alternative crystal growth mechanism, i.e. oriented-attachment (OA), which has largely facilitated the general understanding of the crystal growth of various crystals.25, 29-32 Recently, high-resolution in-situ observation of the critical OA growth steps of nanocrystals has elevated the OA field to an ever high research level. For instance, using a fluid cell Li
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