News Materials Science

Carbon pods are more than a pack of peas

By Jessica Gorman

- More than 2 years ago

In a step toward a postsilicon age of microelectronics, researchers have found that they can manipulate the electronic character of nanoscopic carbon structures.

CARBON PEA PODS. Illustration shows buckyballs lined up inside a carbon nanotube. In the background are representative electron waves. D. Hornbaker and A. Yazdani, University of Illinois

The researchers worked with hollow, 1-nanometer-wide carbon nanotubes, which they stuffed pea pod style with buckyballs–soccer ball-shape molecules of 60 carbon atoms.