EDITORIAL
Carbon nanotubes have been studied extensively in
relation to fullerenes, and together with fullerenes
have opened a new science and technology field on
nano scale materials. This book aims to cover recent
research and development in this area, and
so
provide
a convenient reference tool for all researchers in this
field. It is a.lso hoped that this book can serve to
stimulate future work on carbon nanotubes.
Carbon nanotubes have the same range of diameters
as fullerenes, and are expected to show various kinds
of size effects in their structures and properties.
Carbon nanotubes are one-dimensional materials and
fullerenes are zero-dimensional, which brings differ-
ent effects
to
bear
on
their structures as well as on
their properties.
A
whole range of issues from the
preparation, structure, properties and observation of
quantum effects in carbon nanotubes in comparison
with
0-D
fullerenes are discussed in this book.
In order to review the wide research area of carbon
nanotubes this book focuses on recent intensive
work published in
Carbon.
The papers are written
from the viewpoint that carbon nanotubes, as well
as fullerenes, are the most interesting new carbon
allotropes. Readers can then understand the fasci-
nation of graphene sheets when they are rolled into
a nanometer size tubular form from a flat network
corresponding to conventional graphite. This book
also contains complementary reviews on carbon
nanoparticles such as carbon nano-capsules, onion-
like graphite particles and metal-coated fullerenes.
We hope this book will contribute to the dissemina-
tion of present understanding of the subject and to
future developments in the science and technology of
carbon nanotubes and fullerenes, and of carbon
science more generally.
The editors thank all authors who contributed
so
many excellent papers covering all aspects of carbon
nanotubes and the related fields. We are indebted
to
the Editor-in-Chief of
Carbon,
Professor Peter
A.
Thrower, for his suggestion and kind efforts, and also
to
Dr
V.
Kiruvanayagam for her kind cooperation
related
to
this book.
Morinobu Endo
Sumio Iijima
Mildred
S.
Dresselhaus
Editors
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