Carbon nanotube
hideCarbon nanotubes (CNTs) are allotropes of carbon with a cylindrical nanostructure. Nanotubes have been constructed with length-to-diameter ratio of up to 28,000,000:1, which is significantly larger than any other material. These cylindrical carbon molecules have novel properties that make them potentially useful in many applications in nanotechnology, electronics, optics and other fields of materials science, as well as potential uses in architectural fields. They exhibit extraordinary strength and unique electrical properties, and are efficient conductors of heat. Their final usage, however, may be limited by their potential toxicity.
Nanotubes are members of the fullerene structural family, which also includes the spherical buckyballs. The ends of a nanotube might be capped with a hemisphere of the buckyball structure. Their name is derived from their size, since the diameter of a nanotube is on the order of a few nanometers (approximately 1/50,000th of the width of a human hair), while they can be up to several millimeters in length (as of 2008). Nanotubes are categorized as single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs) and multi-walled nanotubes (MWNTs).
The nature of the bonding of a nanotube is described by applied quantum chemistry, specifically, orbital hybridization. The chemical bonding of nanotubes is composed entirely of sp2 bonds, similar to those of graphite. This bonding structure, which is stronger than the sp3 bonds found in diamonds, provides the molecules with their unique strength. Nanotubes naturally align themselves into "ropes" held together by Van der Waals forces. Under high pressure, nanotubes can merge together, trading some sp² bonds for sp³ bonds, giving the possibility of producing strong, unlimited-length wires through high-pressure nanotube linking.
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News tagged with carbon nanotube
Using superconducting probes to get a picture of what it's like inside CNTs
Nov 20, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- "Carbon nanotubes are exciting for fundamental physics, and for potential technological applications," Nadya Mason tells PhysOrg.com. "However, we are generally limited in the way that we can study them. ...
Tiny Music Player Made from Wire Bridge (w/ Video)
Nov 04, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (18) |
1
(PhysOrg.com) -- In 2008, scientists built a loudspeaker made of carbon nanotubes that produced sound and music based on the thermoacoustic effect. Now, a different team of scientists has built a loudspeaker ...
Scientists develop DNA origami nanoscale breadboards for carbon nanotube circuits
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Nov 10, 2009 |
5 / 5 (7) |
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In work that someday may lead to the development of novel types of nanoscale electronic devices, an interdisciplinary team of researchers at the California Institute of Technology has combined DNA's talent ...
How Perfect Can Graphene Be?
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Oct 13, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (30) |
5
(PhysOrg.com) -- Physicists have investigated the purest graphene to date, and have found that the material possesses unprecedented high electronic quality. The discovery has raised the bar for this relatively ...
Breakthrough in industrial-scale nanotube processing
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Nov 02, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (23) |
3
(PhysOrg.com) -- Rice University scientists today unveiled a method for the industrial-scale processing of pure carbon-nanotube fibers that could lead to revolutionary advances in materials science, power ...
Could a paper transistor offer an alternative to silicon?
Sep 22, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (15) |
6
(PhysOrg.com) -- As technology advances, scientists look for ways to enhance electronic applications and devices. Indeed, electronics are getting smaller and more diverse. And as this happens, there is an increased requirement ...
Ultra-Long Carbon Nanotubes Could Serve as Future Transmission Lines
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Nov 10, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (27) |
15
(PhysOrg.com) -- When it comes to carbon nanotubes, the majority of research so far has focused on small-scale applications. But now, a team of researchers from Rice University has created carbon nanotubes ...
Study shows how carbon nanotubes can affect lining of the lungs
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
Oct 25, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (10) |
1
(PhysOrg.com) -- Carbon nanotubes are being considered for use in everything from sports equipment to medical applications, but a great deal remains unknown about whether these materials cause respiratory ...
Infrared Nanotube Films Offer Advantages for Solar Cells and More
Mar 11, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (11) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have already known that carbon nanotube thin films have mechanical and conductive advantages that could make them useful as electrodes in solar cells, solid state lighting, and ...
Carbon Nanotubes Toughen a Common Plastic
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Apr 07, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (19) |
2
(PhysOrg.com) -- A research group from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel has discovered that adding carbon nanotubes to a widely used commercial plastic can greatly strengthen it. Their work is one ...
Will carbon nanotubes replace indium tin oxide?
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Mar 09, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (8) |
2
(PhysOrg.com) -- Up until now, George Grüner tells PhysOrg.com, most of the studies regarding the properties - and uses - of carbon nanotubes have been restricted to the visible spectral range. “We, however, were interested in the ...
Stretchable Nanotube Films May Advance Medical Electronics (Update)
May 04, 2009 |
3.6 / 5 (10) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the issues hindering the development of medical electronic devices capable of being implanted in the human body is the lack of suitable materials. Most semiconducting materials are ...
Carbon-Nanotube Memory that Really Competes
Jan 26, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (21) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers in Finland have created a form of carbon-nanotube based information storage that is comparable in speed to a type of memory commonly used in memory cards and USB "jump" drives.
Nanochemistry in Action
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Mar 06, 2009 |
3.8 / 5 (6) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Using a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) as a test tube, scientists can explore chemistry at the nanoscale, which involves some unique effects. Nanotubes provide a confined, one-dimensional ...
'Writing' Patterns on Carbon Nanotubes With Polymer Chains
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
May 19, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (11) |
3
(PhysOrg.com) -- Carbon nanotubes are at the center of the nanoelectronics research movement, with scientists making great progress toward getting nanotube-based electronic devices into the hands of consumers. ...
