By Tina Casey •
November 20, 2009
Researchers at the University of San Diego have discovered that carbon nanotubes don’t have to be perfect to do a better job. The team of UCSD Professor Prabhakar Bandaru and grad student Mark Hoefer found that defective carbon nanotubes actually store energy more effectively than their unflawed counterparts.
The effect, which was originally studied at UCSD by grad student Jeff Nichols, rests in the creation of just the right amount of defects - enough to create additional charge sites on the nanotube, but not enough to break down its electrical conductivity. Though it’s a long way from commercialization, the breakthrough brings us one step closer to the Holy Grail of the electric car, and to the entire battery operated sustainable infrastructure of the future: a genuine quick-charging, long lasting battery.
By Tina Casey •
November 3, 2009
Researchers at Rice University have announced the discovery of a new breakthrough method for producing carbon nanotubes in bulk fluids. Rice’s new nanotube “stew” could spur the inexpensive mass production of carbon nanotube-based products, much like the plastics industry employed bulk loads of melted polymers as a cheap base for making everything from medical equipment to polyester shirts to plastic bags, and countless other things in between.
Rice’s nanotube research was sponsored in party by U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy. Aside from their military application, carbon nanotubes have a practically unlimited potential for sustainable civilian products because of their strength, light weight, and electrical conductivity among other properties. Lightweight nanomaterials could boost the gas mileage in cars and airplanes, make thinner and more flexible solar cells, increase the efficiency of lithium-ion batteries (in combination with another new high tech material, graphene), and be used in artificial photosynthesis to generate hydrogen fuel.
By Susan Kraemer •
October 19, 2009
A University of Rochester team has been awarded $1.7 million to generate hydrogen fuel with sunlight using artificial photosynthesis and nanotubes. Generating hydrogen without using a fossil fuel is not easy. Using sunlight to split hydrogen off from water has been done before, but the process has not been cheap or efficient.
They propose to change that by dividing the nanoscale process into three separate modules that can be manipulated separately to isolate the process of gathering sunlight from the process of generating hydrogen.
This way they can better control each step.
By Tina Casey •
June 26, 2009
Move over, silicon: graphene is ready for its closeup. Discovered just a few years ago, graphene is a sheet of graphite the thickness of just one atom. It can be processed like silicon to make electronic devices, which makes it easier to manipulate than the current “it” material, carbon nanotubes. Without the breakdown problems that beset silicon at the nanoscale, graphene is bringing the dream of a molecule-sized computer closer to reality.
By Lucille Chi •
October 28, 2008
Buckypaper is a material composed of carbon nanotubes. It is 10 times lighter and over 500 times stronger than steel and the “buckytubes” that make it up are 50,000 times thinner than a human hair. It is predicted by futurists that this material will storm the auto and aviation industries.
One of the best ways to make transportation vehicles more energy efficient is to reduce their weight, so the commercialization of buckypaper promises lighter, super efficient and much stronger vehicles.
By Ariel Schwartz •
October 22, 2008
Samsung unveiled the world’s first carbon nanotube color active matrix electrophoretic display (EPD) e-paper recently at a conference in Korea. The 14.3 inch e-paper display is the product of a partnership between Samsung and Unidym, the company that developed the carbon nanotubes used by the device.
By Ariel Schwartz •
September 22, 2008
Carbon nanotubes may be the water filter wave of the future, but Spectra Watermakers’ Solar Cube works pretty well in the meantime.
The Cube (AKA the Spectra Solar Brackish Water System) is a portable solar and wind powered desalination unit that can produce 950 to 1500 gallons of fresh water each day. Attached photovoltaic cells generate up to 1240 watts, while the wind generator can produce up to 1000 watts.
By Ariel Schwartz •
September 15, 2008
Nanotechnology seems to be invading all facets of modern life, from the pills you take to the batteries that power your iPod. Pretty soon, carbon nanotubes may even filter your water.
Researchers at the Bhabha Atomic Research Center in India are investigating the hollow carbon fibers as a potential water filter. They believe the unique chemical properties of nanotubes mean that only water molecules can pass through their interiors, while toxic metal ions, viruses, and bacteria cannot.
