METAL OXIDE NANOTUBE AND PROCESS FOR PRODUCTION THEREOF

摘要

Spiral shaped fibers (Japanese Patent Application 2001-239014) were utilized to prepare completely novel metal oxide nanotubes comprising solely metal oxides. The metal oxide nanotubes comprise solely a hollow cylinder shaped metal oxide which may contain hydroxyl groups constituting a double helix and having hole diameter distributions containing two peak hole diameters ranging from 1 to 2 nm and from 3 to 7 nm. The tubes may be obtained using a process comprising the steps of dissolving compound 1 represented by the chemical formula (chemical formula 1) shown below and compound 2 represented by the chemical formula (chemical formula 1) shown below (in the formula A and B, may be identical or different from each other, represent saccharide radicals, R represents an alkyl group and R' represents a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group) in water or a mixed solution of water and alcohol and allowing to stand, mixing further a metal oxide precursor, mixing further a catalyst for converting the metal oxide precursor into a metal oxide, and sintering the gel formed in the previous step. The hydrogen adsorption and storage capacity of the metal oxide nanotubes are extremely good.