Related topics: nano letters , carbon atoms , carbon , graphene , applied physics letters
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
New memory material may hold data for one billion years
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
May 20, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (45) |
17
(PhysOrg.com) -- Packing more digital images, music, and other data onto silicon chips in USB drives and smart phones is like squeezing more strawberries into the same size supermarket carton. The denser you ...
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 ...
Ultra-Long Carbon Nanotubes Could Serve as Future Transmission Lines
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Nov 10, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (28) |
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 ...
Long, Stretchy Carbon Nanotubes Could Make Space Elevators Possible
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Jan 23, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (30) |
51
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists from Cambridge University have developed a light, flexible, and strong type of carbon nanotube material that may bring space elevators closer to reality. Motivated by a $4 million ...
A Billion Year Ultra-Dense Memory Chip (w/Video)
Jun 04, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (29) |
12
(PhysOrg.com) -- Berkeley Lab researchers have created a unique ultra-high density memory storage medium that can preserve digital data for a billion years.
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 ...
Carbon nanotubes could make efficient solar cells
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Sep 10, 2009 |
5 / 5 (21) |
13
(PhysOrg.com) -- Cornell researchers fabricated, tested and measured a simple solar cell called a photodiode, formed from an individual carbon nanotube.
Carbon-Nanotube Memory that Really Competes
Jan 26, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (21) |
4
(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.
Carbon Nanotube Artificial Muscles for Extreme Temperatures
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Mar 20, 2009 |
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6
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the UT Dallas Alan G. MacDiarmid NanoTech Institute have demonstrated a fundamentally new type of artificial muscle, which can operate at extreme temperatures where no other ...
Transparent Carbon Nanotube Films Likely Successor to ITO for Commercial Applications
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Apr 10, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (19) |
12
(PhysOrg.com) -- Will the legacy of Nobel prize winner Richard Smalley finally be fulfilled? Ever since his pioneering work in the mid 1990's on the synthesis of carbon nanotubes, companies have been struggling ...
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 ...
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 ...
Flexible, transparent supercapacitors -- bend and twist them like a poker card
Mar 31, 2009 |
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10
It is a completely transparent and flexible energy conversion and storage device that you can bend and twist like a poker card.
Could a paper transistor offer an alternative to silicon?
Sep 22, 2009 |
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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 ...
Fuel cells get a boost
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Oct 15, 2009 |
3.9 / 5 (17) |
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Fuel cells, devices that can produce electricity from hydrogen or other fuels without burning them, are considered a promising new way of powering everything from homes and cars to portable devices like cellphones ...
