Carbon Nanotubes: Properties and Applications
Carbon nanotubes are made of hexagonal lattices.
A recent article published by MIT’s Technology Review describes the uniquely resilient properties of carbon nanotubes and some of their applications. Carbon nanotubes is one of the main areas of today’s nanotechnology research. The structures are tube-shaped with walls made of hexagonal lattices, and can be a few nanometers in diameter, which is a miniscule fraction of the width of a single human hair.
Despite their tiny dimensions, carbon nanotubes have significant mechanical and electrical properties that dwarf common macroscopic engineering materials such as copper and steel. While carbon nanotubes are extremely flexible and lightweight, their tensile strength is unparalleled, which means they are very difficult to break. The article provides a testament to how strong carbon nanotubes are:
These materials change shape and size in response to electrical or chemical signals; some expand by up to 1 percent and exert 100 times more force than natural human muscle over the same area.
Also, they can thrive in extreme temperature environments. According to the article:
They can expand and contract thousands of times and withstand temperatures ranging from -190 to over 1,600 °C.
Carbon nanotubes are also modern-day champions in conducting electric current. Their conducting ability can be thousands of times greater than that of copper, which is a common material for today’s wires for electricity. This makes carbon nanotubes potentially very useful in electrical circuits, because they can conduct current very well for their miniscule size. This can aid in the development of even smaller electronic gadgets than what we have today. Also due to their electrical properties, carbon nanotubes have potential for use in solar cells to increase their energy output.
The article also mentions some other applications of carbon nanotubes that researchers are looking into today. Researchers are looking into using carbon nanotubes for artificial muscles in robotics because of their unparalleled material strength. Researchers at NASA are looking into utilizing carbon nanotubes in developing “shape-shifting spacecraft parts” due to their light weight, flexibility, and ability to operate in a wide range of temperatures. The article points out that extreme temparatures are commonplace in space, such as the extreme cold on Mars and the extreme heat on Venus. Spacecraft that can handle these extreme temperatures can help us better analyze and understand these planets by traveling deep inside them.
Because carbon nanotubes are still in the development stages, the general public has not heard a whole lot about them. However, research with these materials have been advancing well, and it could be not too long in the future that we see carbon nanotubes in everyday devices.
(Image from Wikipedia.)
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