The Quarter-Century Anniversary of Carbon Nanotube Research.

Nanotube Research In the 25 years since the 1991 report on helical nanotubes of carbon by Dr. Sumio Iijima, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), the nanoscale tubules composed of sp carbon networks, have been one of the most intensively studied materials. On November 15−18, 2016, the International Symposium on Carbon Nanotube in Commemoration of its Quarter-Century Anniversary (CNT25) was held in Tokyo, Japan. Over 350 participants from the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe attended this 4 day symposium to celebrate the 25 year anniversary and discuss the past, present, and future of carbon nanotube research as well as the development of industrial applications. Three keynote lectures (by Sumio Iijima, Morinobu Endo, and Steven Louie), 40 invited talks, and ca. 60 posters covered most of the active topics in CNT research and development from the preparation and handling (synthesis, sorting, dispersing, and filling), characterization (spectroscopy and electron microscopy), and property (electronic, optical, quantum, mechanical, and magnetic) to applications (electronics, energy, composites, and biomedicine) and safety. A deeper understanding of the role of catalysts shines a ray of light toward the structure-controlled synthesis of single-walled CNTs (SWNTs). Although the sorting of SWNTs is evolving from chirality-dependent toward handedness-dependent separations, transmission electron microscopybased techniques have become increasingly powerful and reach atomic resolution for various carbon-based structures. Singlewalled CNTs have shown great potential in future electronics and optoelectronics, particularly flexible devices, and CNT-based hybrid materials and systems are promising in energy and sustainability related applications.