Carbon nanotubes can be produced in a new way by twisting ribbon-like graphene (Nanowerk News) The properties of folded, bent and twisted graphene at nanoscale are difficult to study theoretically and experimentally. In his dissertation, however, Oleg Kit utilized symmetry, a time-worn concept of theoretical physics, to develop an effective method to run computer experiments on nanostructures under complex deformations.

The new method allows explorations of folding, bending and twisting in more diverse ways than previously. Information about nanostructure properties is obtained by modeling only a few atoms, instead of simulating the whole structures. As the research utilized the laws of quantum mechanics, the method provided also information about changes in the electronic structure of graphene.

The advantage of the technique is that it makes possible studies of structures with millions of atoms that lack traditional symmetries. It enabled simulations which predict that carbon nanotubes can be made by twisting graphene.

The disseration is published in the JYU Dissertations series, University of Jyväskylä, No. 59 ("Nanostructure Distortions Simulated Effectively: The Technique and its Nanocarbon Applications")