Prof. Lu-Chang Qin

Affiliation: Department of Physic and Astronomy, UNC, Chapel Hill

Measurement of the Chirality and Properties of a Single Nanotube

Abstract:

Electron diffraction and electron microscopy offer a unique capability to probe the atomic
structure of nanotubes and nanowires for establishing the crucial structure-property relationships of the material
sample under study. For a cylindrical nanotube, its atomic structure can be described by its chirality (chiral
indices) and its physical properties are sensitive to it. In this talk I will present (1) an electron diffraction method

that can be used to determine the chiral indices with a high accuracy of individual nanotubes, including single-
and multi-shell carbon nanotubes as well as composite nanotubes such as WS2; (2) measurement of the shear

modulus and inter-shell friction of carbon nanotubes; and (3) recent development of a field-emission point
electron source using a single nanowire for application in the electron microscope.

Biography:

Lu-Chang Qin is a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). He received his BS degree in physics from the University of Science and
Technology of China, MS degree in Material Science and Engineering from Northwestern University, and ScD
degree in Materials Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research interest has been in the
development and application of (i) electron diffraction and microscopy techniques for materials characterization
and (ii) nanostructured materials for electron emission and energy storage. He has published more than 150 papers
to in these areas.