Carbon Nanotubes

Nanonet circuits closer to making flexible electronics reality

harminka — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 02:40:43 -0500

Researchers have overcome a major obstacle in producing transistors from networks of carbon nanotubes, a technology that could make it possible to print circuits on plastic sheets for applications including flexible displays and an electronic skin to cover an entire aircraft to monitor crack formation.

LLNL researchers peer into water in carbon nanotubes

harminka — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 07:33:49 -0500

Researchers have identified a signature for water inside single-walled carbon nanotubes, helping them understand how water is structured and how it moves within these tiny channels.

Fight for the best quantum bit

harminka — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 08:41:31 -0500

Our results give us, for the first time, the possibility to understand the interaction between just two electrons placed next to each other in a carbon nanotube.

Perfecting a solar cell by adding imperfections

harminka — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 08:50:15 -0500

Nanotechnology is paving the way toward improved solar cells. New research shows that a film of carbon nanotubes may be able to replace two of the layers normally used in a solar cell, with improved performance at a lower cost. Researchers have found a surprising way to give the nanotubes the properties they need: add defects.

Carbon nanotubes that look like asbestos, behave like asbestos

harminka — Tue, 20 May 2008 13:11:11 -0500

A major study published today in Nature Nanotechnology suggests some forms of carbon nanotubes – a poster child for the “nanotechnology revolution” – could be as harmful as asbestos if inhaled in sufficient quantities.

Sticky nanotubes hold key to future technologies

harminka — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:06:23 -0500

Researchers at Purdue University are the first to precisely measure the forces required to peel tiny 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.

Silicon nanotubes for hydrogen storage in fuel cell vehicles

harminka — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:14:55 -0500

After powering the micro-electronics revolution, silicon could carve out an important new role in speeding the debut of ultra-clean fuel cell vehicles powered by hydrogen, researchers in China suggest. Their calculations show for the first time that silicon nanotubes can store hydrogen more efficiently than their carbon nanotube counterparts.

First thermal nanomotor in the world

harminka — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:52:54 -0500

Researchers from the UAB Research Park have created the first nanomotor that is propelled by changes in temperature. A carbon nanotube is capable of transporting cargo and rotating like a conventional motor, but is a million times smaller than the head of a needle.

Carbon nanotube measurements,: latest in NIST 'how-to' series

harminka — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 05:29:35 -0500

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in collaboration with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), has published detailed guidelines* for making essential measurements on samples of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). The new guide constitutes the current “best practices” for characterizing one of the most promising and heavily studied of the new generation of nanoscale materials.

Carbon nanotubes and superconductors to replace the silicon chip

harminka — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 02:22:01 -0500

The future of computing is under the spotlight at the Institute of Physics’ Condensed Matter and Materials Physics conference at the Royal Holloway College of the University of London on 26-28 March.

Carbon nanotubes outperform copper nanowires as interconnects

harminka — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 08:51:37 -0500

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have created a road map that brings academia and the semiconductor industry one step closer to realizing carbon nanotube interconnects, and alleviating the current bottleneck of information flow that is limiting the potential of computer chips in everything from personal computers to portable music players.

How fundamental particles lose track of quantum mechanical properties

harminka — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:03:23 -0500

In today’s Science Express, the advance online publication of the journal Science, researchers report a series of experiments that mark an important step toward understanding a longstanding fundamental physics problem of quantum mechanics. The scientists presented their findings at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society here this week.