Self-organization of triple-stranded carbon nanoropes

Novel self-organized carbon nanoropes consisting of three helically coiled multi-wall nanotubes with a remarkable constant pitch over several microns were grown by the lanthanide oxide-catalyzed decomposition of gaseous acetylene on aluminophosphate (AlPO 4 -5) support. Direct characterization by the stereo transmission electron microscope and scanning electron microscope has convincingly shown that these three strands entwine with each other helically, which are presumably kept together by both the spontaneous curvature and van der Waals (vdW) attraction.