Effect of electronic irradiation in the production of NbSe2 nanotubes

In this work, we report the production of NbSe2 (niobium diselenide) nanotu bes formed by irradiating NbSe2 with high doses of electron irradiation. Th e apparatus used for the irradiation was a 2 MeV Van de Graaff accelerator at the following conditions: voltage 1.3 MeV, current 5 muA, dose rate 25 k Gy/min, and total dosage 1000 kGy. These conditions were maintained fixed w hile irradiation dosage was changed between 100, 250 and 500 Mrad. We obser ved enormous and very well defined nanotubes with a length of several nm an d width of a few nm, which are hollow and capped at one end. As the level o f irradiation is increased to 500 Mrad, onion-like structures were observed .