Sphere-To-Tube Transition toward Nanotube Formation: A Universal Route by Inverse Plateau-Rayleigh Instability

Nanotube formation in low-temperature solution has attracted intense interest since the 1990s. How to disclose the in-depth physicochemical nature of nanotubes and pursue new available chemical strategies is still highly desirable but remains a challenge. Here, we report that sphere-to-tube transition triggered by inverse Plateau-Rayleigh instability can be a chemical route for scalable production of nanotubes. As a proof of concept, formation of a phosphorus nitride (PN) nanotube and various hierarchical nanotube architectures by coalescence of the PN hollow spheres is achieved under systematic solvothermal reaction. The combination of theoretical analysis and dynamic simulation elucidates that the inverse Plateau-Rayleigh instability driven by the competition between curvature elasticity and surface energy is responsible for the PN nanotube formation observed in experiments. We anticipate that the sphere-to-tube transition provides a paradigm for nanotube synthesis for practical applications.