One-Dimensional Phosphorus Nanostructures: from Nanorings to Nanohelices

Giuseppe Sansone; Lorenzo Maschio; Antti J Karttunen

doi:10.1002/chem.201703876

One-Dimensional Phosphorus Nanostructures: from Nanorings to Nanohelices

Chemistry. 2017 Nov 13;23(63):15884-15888. doi: 10.1002/chem.201703876. Epub 2017 Oct 19.

Authors

Giuseppe Sansone¹, Lorenzo Maschio², Antti J Karttunen³

Affiliations

¹ Dipartimento di Chimica, University of Torino, Via P. Giuria 5, 10125, Torino, Italy.
² Dipartimento di Chimica, C3S centre, NIS centre, University of Torino, Via P. Giuria 5, 10125, Torino, Italy.
³ Department of Chemistry and Materials Science, Aalto University, Kemistintie 1, 02150, Espoo, Finland.

PMID: 28940380
DOI: 10.1002/chem.201703876

Abstract

Phosphorus nanorings and nanohelices-speculated to exist over 20 years ago-have been systematically derived from one parent structure and studied with quantum chemical methods. The (P₈ P₂ )_n nanorings have been recently synthetized inside carbon nanotube templates, and our comprehensive analysis of possible structural arrangements strongly supports the possibility to experimentally determine the closely related (P₈ P₂ )_n nanohelices. The nanohelices possess very low stiffness, suggesting interesting mechanical properties with nano-spring-like behavior.

Keywords: allotropy; density functional calculations; helical structures; nanostructures; phosphorus.