Chapter 22 - Carbon nanostructures and 2D transition metal dichalcogenides

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are promising materials for everyday life due to their functional and structural properties and their applications. CNTs are employed for molecular electronic, composite materials development because of their unique high surface-area-to-volume ratio, atomic structure, and excellent thermal, electronic, and mechanical properties. In this chapter, schemes of structural classification of CNTs have been proposed, which are based on the types of chemical bonds formed and the numbers of the nearest neighbors with which each atom forms covalent bonds. Factors that govern the properties of CNTs are also discussed herein. This chapter describes recent progress in 2D materials and includes mainly TMDs. Beyond TMDs, their electrochemistry and progresses in HER electrochemistry are also discussed. Control over chemical functionalization is a crucial point in the field of nanotechnology. Herein, we present the covalent functionalization of several carbon nanoforms (SWCNTs, DWNTs, and MWCNTs) by means of dichalcogenides. These ones show different reactivity with the nanomaterials and are able to modify their electronic properties depending on the electronegativity of the functionalizing heteroatom.