Abstract
Despite extensive research for more than 200 years, the experimental isolation of monatomic sulphur chains, which are believed to exhibit a conducting character, has eluded scientists. Here we report the synthesis of a previously unobserved composite material of elemental sulphur, consisting of monatomic chains stabilized in the constraining volume of a carbon nanotube. This one-dimensional phase is confirmed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and synchrotron X-ray diffraction. Interestingly, these one-dimensional sulphur chains exhibit long domain sizes of up to 160 nm and high thermal stability (~800 K). Synchrotron X-ray diffraction shows a sharp structural transition of the one-dimensional sulphur occurring at ~450–650 K. Our observations, and corresponding electronic structure and quantum transport calculations, indicate the conducting character of the one-dimensional sulphur chains under ambient pressure. This is in stark contrast to bulk sulphur that needs ultrahigh pressures exceeding ~90 GPa to become metallic.
Highlights
Despite extensive research for more than 200 years, the experimental isolation of monatomic sulphur chains, which are believed to exhibit a conducting character, has eluded scientists
We can identify two lines separated by 0.32 nm inside the hollow core of a SWCNT with diameter of 1.1 nm, which we interpret as two parallel monatomic sulphur chains
We have experimentally identified the presence of conducting 1D zigzag and linear sulphur chains, which self-assemble in the narrow cylindrical cavity inside SWCNTs and double-walled CNTs (DWCNTs)
Summary
Despite extensive research for more than 200 years, the experimental isolation of monatomic sulphur chains, which are believed to exhibit a conducting character, has eluded scientists. We report the synthesis of a previously unobserved composite material of elemental sulphur, consisting of monatomic chains stabilized in the constraining volume of a carbon nanotube This one-dimensional phase is confirmed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and synchrotron X-ray diffraction. Even small lattice distortions of the enclosed 1D metal may change the electronic structure near the Fermi level[10] sufficiently to suppress the Peierls instability and preserve the enclosed nanowire as a 1D quantum conductor In this context, single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) turn out to be superior host materials in comparison with other porous materials because of the presence of closed quasi-1D channels with diameter of E1 nm (refs 11–19). The 1D sulphur chains exhibit a conducting character under ambient pressure, which is supported by ab initio density functional calculations
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