'Sticky nanotubes' hold key to future technologies

This composite image taken with an electron microscope shows a side and bottom image of a nanotube attached to a "microcantilever," a component in atomic force microscopes. Researchers at Purdue used the experimental setup to precisely measure the forces required to peel nanotubes off of other materials, opening up the possibility of creating standards for nano-manufacturing and harnessing a gecko's ability to walk up walls. The nanotube in this image has a length of about 6 microns, or millionths of a meter, and is 40 nanometers wide, roughly 500 times thinner than a human hair. This image also shows an artistic representation of how a nanotube peels away from surfaces. Credit: Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University