חדשות ואירועים

Inorganic Fullerene-Like Nanoparticles and Nanotubes, Their Synthesis and Applications

2.5.12, 12:00
Room 308/8

The industrial development of the 21st century requires new smart and miniaturized devices, strong and light materials, materials with wide variety of new properties. Nanotechnology based on nanocompounds comes to address this need. Inorganic fullerene-like (IF) nanoparticles and inorganic nanotubes (INT) from MoS_2 and WS_2 were discovered in 1992 in the laboratory of Prof. Tenne, Weizmann Institute of Science. During last two decades it was shown that not only carbon, WS_2 and MoS_2, but whole family of transition metal dichalcogenides like SnS_2, TaS_2, TiS_2, as well as numerous metal-oxide and metal-halide with layered structure could form nanoparticles with spherical and tubular morphology when prepared under appropriate synthetic conditions. Careful investigation of the IF- and INT-WS_2 growth mechanism resulted in the synthesis of a pure phase and paved the way for the scaled up production. Large amounts of nanopowders allow extensive investigation of their intrinsic properties and possible applications. Many studies were carried out aiming at studying catalytic effects of these nanoparticles, their optical and electrical behavior, and influencing  polymers’ properties by adding tiny amounts of these nanoparticles. Promising results were obtained with respect to the mechanical, thermal, and tribological behavior of polymer nanocomposites. Initial results were obtained for electrical and catalytic applications. Synthesis of nanoparticles from MoS_2 or from other transition dichalcogenides needs additional efforts to become scalable, which should result in new materials with advanced properties for new applications.