A direct pyrolysis method from artificial lamellar mesostructures to nanotubes was developedfor the synthesis of tungsten disulfide (WS
2) nanotubes. In this process, a tungsten sulfide artificial lamellarmesostructure composite with intercalated cetyltrimethylammonium cations (WS-L) was prepared on thebasis of the recently developed template self-assembly of anionic tungstates (WS
42-) and cationic surfactantmolecules (CTA
+) in solution under appropriate conditions. After heating of this inorganic-surfactant lamellarcomposite material in an argon atmosphere to 850
C, bulk quantities of uniform WS
2 nanotubes withdiameters of 5-37.5 nm and lengths ranging from 0.2 to 5
m were produced, which revealed a generalrolling mechanism of layered sheets for tubule formation. The observations of transmission electronmicroscopy are in good agreement with the proposed rolling mechanism.