Suspended gold nanowires were made in an ultra-high vacuum. The finest of them was 0.6 nanometer in diameter and 6 nanometers in length. By high-resolution electron microscopy, they were shown to have a multi-shell structure composed of coaxial tubes. Each tube consists of helical atom rows coiled round the wire axis. The difference between the numbers of atom rows in outer and inner shells is seven, resulting in magic shell-closing numbers.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.