Mesoscopic structures cylindrical

Surfactants are popularly known for their detergency properties. Their appeal is based on the observation that while they are dispersible in water, they can remove efficiently oily contaminants from various surfaces, such as apparel, building materials, and appliances. This was found to be due to the capability of surfactants to form mesoscopic structures called micelles, in which surfactant molecules self-organized into spherical, cylindrical, and even lamellar domains. In these domains surfactant molecules arrange themselves like infantry soldiers of a Roman legion in defensive positions, wherein the hydrophilic heads of each molecule are facing the wide... 

The synthesis of molecular carbon structures in the form of C q and other fullerenes stimulated an intense interest in mesoscopic carbon structures. In this respect, the discovery of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) [1] in the deposit of an arc discharge was a major break through. In the early days, many theoretical efforts have focused on the electronic properties of these novel quasi-one-dimensional structures [2-5]. Like graphite, these mesoscopic systems are essentially sp2 bonded. However, the curvature and the cylindrical symmetry cause important modifications compared with planar graphite. 

So, despite the very small diameter of the MWCNT with respeet to the de Broglie wavelengths of the charge carriers, the cylindrical structure of the honeycomb lattice gives rise to a 2D electron gas for both weak localisation and UCF effects. Indeed, both the amplitude and the temperature dependence of the conductance fluctuations were found to be consistent with the universal conductance fluctuations models for mesoscopic 2D systems applied to the particular cylindrical structure of MWCNTs [10]. 

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