ABSTRACT
Computational Methods .....................................................................................................326 10.4 Study of the Properties of Inorganic Nanotubes in Relation to
Their Applications ..............................................................................................................330 10.5 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................332 Acknowledgments .........................................................................................................................332 References ....................................................................................................................................332
The discovery of carbon fullerenes [1] and later carbon nanotubes [2] stimulated research on carbonaceous nanomaterials and also the search for nanotubes and fullerene-like structures from other layered compounds. Numerous inorganic compounds possess layer (2-D) structure, including metal dichalcogenides (sulfides, selenides, and tellurides), metal dihalides (chlorides, bromides, and iodides), metal oxides, and numerous ternary or quaternary compounds, resembling thereby graphite. The metal dichalcogenides, MX2 (M = Mo, W, Nb, Ta, Hf, Ti, Zr, Re; X = S, Se) contain a metal layer sandwiched between two chalcogen layers with the metal in a trigonal pyramidal or octahedral coordination mode [3,4]. Analogous to graphite (Figure 10.1a), weak van der Waals forces are responsible for the stacking of the MX2 layers along the c-axis (Figure 10.1b). The molecular sheets of inorganic layered compounds consist of multiple layers of different atoms chemically bonded together.
