Nanostressing and mechanochemistry

摘要

Experimental evidence supporting the heightenedchemical reactivity of highly conformationally strained carbonsites in multi-walled carbon nanotubes is reported. The strain isintroduced by two methods, van der Waals attractions tononplanar surfaces and ultrasonic cavitation.Oxidative acid attackwas observed in both cases, in the former by etching of thenanotubes' kinked sites, and in the latter by peptide coupling topolystyrene spheres that are large enough to be visible by SEMimaging. A novel single-axis straining stage for nanometer-scaleobjects is also described.