Iijima Sumio

Sumio Iijima is a Japanese scientist renowned for his discovery of carbon nanotubes in 1991. Carbon nanotubes are nanoscale hollow tubes made of carbon atoms, with diameters typically ranging from 1 to tens of nanometers and lengths up to millimeters. These unique one-dimensional structures possess special properties that make them highly promising for various nanotechnology applications.12

Iijima's initial discovery involved multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs). Later, he and other researchers independently synthesized single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). These discoveries, along with the earlier discovery of fullerenes, significantly advanced the field of nanotechnology by revealing new carbon structures with unexpected properties.12