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Oct 03, 2008 Views: 410

Nanotubes Rock!

This is a subject that has long fascinated me - and not in the Michael Crichton way either.

Coming soon (but not quite soon enough) to a car near you - as well as laptops, cell phones and what have you is yet another new application of these supermaterials.

This time round, carbon nanotubes find an application in supercapacitors that may have a role in replacing clunky old car battery tech. Scientists at the University of Texas at Dallas have invented a technique to make supercapacitor "paper" made from randomly tangled carbon nanotubes embedded in a polymer. Both chemical batteries and capacitors store electrical charge, in differing ways, but nanotech supercapacitors could store more energy in a smaller space, without the dangers associated with chemical systems. Further more, research at my old alma mater at IISc has already demonstrated their force generated charge carrying capabilities...

Potentially excellent news given the rise of the hybrid car. Better yet the new technique is "easily scalable for device fabrication on an industrial scale," so it might end up in real products sooner rather than later.

With inputs from the Giz, PhysOrg and more.

Comments of this blog: 5 Comments Add Your Comment

R Bishop said:

that is sweet!

Posted on Oct 05, 2008 10:34 PM

varsha said:

cool!

Posted on Oct 07, 2008 10:37 AM

Wnt said:

Nanotube pollution is a subject that needs to be seriously worked out before using such applications. I have heard they can even casue genome toxicity, not sure how..

Posted on Oct 07, 2008 11:57 AM

parvoman said:

This does sound excellent. The toxicity question is real but as I understand, it is linked to carbon nanotubes which are stiff rod-like structures. The reason they cause a problem is that they are more than twice the length of the macrophages that would normally phagocytose them. Try swallowing a javelin...pretty difficult and not good for the digestion!

Posted on Oct 16, 2008 10:55 AM

samm said:

@Wnt: I don't know where you got the genome toxicity bit: do you have a reference? Nanotubes do not carry an inherent charge (its core flow induced), do not get into the nucleus. @parvoman: Possible (wrt phagocytosis) - also, they could potentially cause some kind of fibrosi in the lung, since they can neatly slip inside alveoli in one dimension, but can get stuck in another (miniature asbestos?). Although I don't believe micron length nanotubes are common, and 10+ micron single walls are nearly impossible with present state-of-the-art: thats the target. Both these concerns should be mitigated by the polymer embedding process - at least I sure hope so!

Posted on Oct 16, 2008 02:10 PM