Growth and structure of self-assembled metal-containing water-soluble nanotubes

We propose a SANS experiment to (i) gain structural insight on nanotubes formed by water soluble anthracene derivatives and (ii) using time-resolved experiments, investigate their formation both in the presence and absence of metal salts (Cu2+, Ag+). Metal incorporation yields a material that resembles a coaxial wire (with inner metal content and pi-pi interactions through the stacked anthracene units in the nanotube shell). These materials are being explored for use as wires and in catalysis. SANS is required to facilitate the global fitting of multiply contrasted datasets necessary to build up a detailed structural picture of these complex assemblies. While the experiment could run on any TS2 beamline, SANS2D is preferred, as these are fairly dilute systems. The lower background of SANS2D and use of the front detector allows the feature-filled scattering at mid-high Q to be better visualised.