Nanotubes and nanowires

Synthesis and characterization of nanotubes and nanowires constitute an important part of nanoscience since these materials are essential building units for several devices. We have prepared aligned carbon nanotube bundles and Y-junction nanotubes by the pyrolysis of appropriate organic precursors. The aligned bundles are useful for field emission display while the Y-junction nanotubes are likely to be useful as nanochips since they exhibit diode properties at the junction. By making use of carbon nanotubes, nanowires of metals, metal oxides and GaN have been obtained. Both the oxide and GaN nanowires are single crystalline. Gold nanowires exhibit plasmon bands varying markedly with the aspect ratio. GaN nanowires show excellent photoluminescence characteristics. It has been possible to synthesise nanotubes and nanowires of metal chalcogenides by employing different strategies.