carbon nanotube
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MIT pencils in carbon nanotube gas sensor that's cheaper, less hazardous (video)
Carbon nanotube-based sensors are good at sniffing out all kinds of things, but applying the cylindrical molecules to a substrate has traditionally been a dangerous and unreliable process. Now, researchers at MIT have found a way to avoid the hazardous solvents that are currently used, by compressing commercially available nanotube powders into a pencil lead-shaped material. That allowed them to sketch the material directly onto paper imprinted with gold electrodes (as shown above), then measure the current flowing through the resisting carbon nanotubes -- allowing detection of any gases that stick to the material. It works even if the marks aren't uniform, according to the team, and the tech would open up new avenues to cheaper sensors that would be particularly adroit at detecting rotten fruit or natural gas leaks. For more info, sniff out the video after the break.
All-carbon solar cell draws power from near-infrared light, our energy future is literally that much brighter
What's this orange-like patch, you ask? It's a layer of carbon nanotubes on silicon, and it might just be instrumental to getting a lot more power out of solar cells than we're used to. Current solar power largely ignores near-infrared light and wastes about 40 percent of the potential energy it could harness. A mix of carbon nanotubes and buckyballs developed by MIT, however, can catch that near-infrared light without degrading like earlier composites. The all-carbon formula doesn't need to be thickly spread to do its work, and it simply lets visible light through -- it could layer on top of a traditional solar cell to catch many more of the sun's rays. Most of the challenge, as we often see for solar cells, is just a matter of improving the energy conversion rate. Provided the researchers can keep refining the project, we could be looking at a big leap in solar power efficiency with very little extra footprint, something we'd very much like to see on the roof of a hybrid sedan.
Researchers develop battery boosting Power Felt, encourages you to sit on your phone
For whatever reason, researchers have long been stuck on the idea of harnessing the wasted energy potential of the human body. We've seen our nation's brightest try to siphon power off of our spare body heat, our breath and even our blood -- we haven't been able to cast off our wall chargers just yet, but progress is being made. Today's no-socket wonder comes from Wake Forest University's Center of Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials, and it falls into the body-heat category. Power Felt, a new fabric-like thermoelectric device comprised of layers of carbon nanotubes and flexible plastic fibers, can create an electrical charge from temperature differences. The Power Felt's layered nanotubes allow it to generate more electricity than standalone carbon nanotube / polymer composite films and, according to researchers, could add only $1 to the cost of a charging cell phone cover. "Imagine it in an emergency kit, wrapped around a flashlight, powering a weather radio, charging a prepaid cell phone," said project head David Carroll, "Literally, just by sitting on your phone, Power Felt could provide relief during power outages or accidents." The thermoelectric technology still has a long way to go before it's ready for the market, however, leaving the US military's technology savvy tailors hanging off the edge of their seats.
Self-strengthening polymer nanocomposite works best under pressure
No one keeps carbon nanotubes down -- especially not these guys. The always popular allotropes have been enlisted by researchers at Rice University to create a composite material that gets stronger under pressure. When combined with polydimethylsiloxane, a rubbery polymer, the tubes form a nanocomposite that exhibits self-strengthening properties also exhibited in bones. During testing, the team found the material increased in stiffness by 12 percent after 3.5 million compressions. Apparently, the crew is stumped on why it reacts this way, but is no less eager to see it working in the real world -- discussion is already underway to use the stuff as artificial cartilage. And here we thought aerogel was cool. Full PR after the break.
Carbon nanotubes run into magical polymer, become 'tougher than Kevlar'
Much like graphene, carbon nanotubes seem to be hitting on all cylinders in the lab. Of course, we can count on one hand finger how many instances we've seen them making a difference in "the real world," but we aren't giving up hope just yet. Researchers from a cadre of universities have come together to solve one of the most nagging issues when dealing with carbon nanotubes -- in prior studies, the bundling of these tubes resulted in a marked decrease in strength, which in turn led to a profuse outpouring of tears. But thanks to a new approach, which mixes in a nondescript polymer, they've managed to conjure up a "a high performance fiber that is remarkably tough, strong, and resistant to failure." More specifically, the resulting material is said to be "tougher than Kevlar, meaning it has a higher ability to absorb energy without breaking." Notably, this material isn't stronger than Kevlar, as it's resistance to failure isn't quite up to snuff, but you can bet the gurus working on this won't stop until it is. And then, friends, we will have officially arrived in The Future.
Self-repairing solar cells could also fix our energy dependency
It doesn't take much for a photovoltaic cell to not work quite as well as it used to. Sure, a big hail storm or the like will do a number on your megabucks rooftop installation, but the sun itself, the very thing those cells are designed to capture, gradually damages their internals, reducing efficiency. The fix, according to a team at MIT, is self-assembling (and therefore self-repairing) solar cells made up of a synthetic molecular soup containing phospholipids that, when mixed with a solution, attach themselves to a series of carbon nanotubes for alignment. Other molecules that react with light then attach to the phospholipids and, with a little illumination, start firing out electrons like mad. After a few hours of solar pummeling the whole thing can be broken down and automatically re-created, returning efficiency to maximum. Overall efficiency of the system is extremely low currently, thanks to a low concentration of those photon-catching structures, but individually they capture about 40 percent of the light's energy, meaning a higher concentration could make for very hearty soup indeed.
Cornell gurus look to carbon nanotubes for efficient solar cells
You know what we love? Solar-powered gadgets, and carbon nanotubes. Oh, and Ivy League schools. Boffins from Cornell University are now looking to use the multifaceted carbon nanotube instead of silicon to develop efficient solar cells, and judging by the glacial pace at which solar cell efficiency is improving, we'd say the sector could use the boost. The researchers have already fabricated, tested and measured a simple solar cell (called a photodiode, just so you know) that was formed from an individual carbon nanotube. The tube was essentially a rolled-up sheet of graphene, and while the inner workings would take days to explain, the gist of it is this: "The nanotube may be a nearly ideal photovoltaic cell because it allowed electrons to create more electrons by utilizing the spare energy from the light."So, solar-powered F-350 trucks are now a possibility for next year, right?[Via Graphene-Info]
Ultra-tough buckypapers could build planes, trains and automobiles
Not to get too nano-technical on you this Saturday afternoon, but you're probably going to want to be briefed on these newfangled macroscopic aggregates commonly referred to as buckypapers. The devices, which are reportedly involved in a long-term undercover relationship with those buckyballs you discussed in 10th grade chemistry class, are ridiculously tough (albeit lightweight) sheets of matter made from intertwined carbon nanotubes. Put simply, these composites could see uses in making more efficient heat sinks, lighter background illumination material for displays and (at least in theory) transportation of the future. For now, buckypapers are being made exclusively in university laboratories, but Florida State is already in the process of spinning out a firm to make them commercially. Do we see the makings of a new and improved Project Grizzly suit? Our signs are pointing to yes.[Via Yahoo!]
UCLA researchers create self-healing, power-generating artificial muscle
We've seen self-healing materials and artificial arms, but a team of researchers hailing from UCLA have taken two fabulous ideas and wed them together to create "an artificial muscle that heals itself and generates electricity." Put simply, the contracting / expanding of the material can generate a small electric current, which can be "captured and used to power another expansion or stored in a battery." The scientists have relied on carbon nanotubes as electrodes rather than metal-based films that typically fail after extended usage, and in an ideal world, the research could eventually lead to (more) walking robots and highly advanced prosthetics. Integrate an AC adapter in there and we're sold.[Via CNET]
Researchers get nanotube chips running at commercial speeds
Carbon nanotubes have a ton of promise, and we've seen a lot of prospective applications for the tech, but researchers at Stanford, working with Toshiba, have managed to demonstrate the first use of nanotubes in chips that run at commercially-viable speeds. The chip features 256 ring oscillators and packs over 11,000 transistors in just one hundredth of a square inch. When wired with the nanotubes and powered up, the chip ran at speeds between 800MHz and 1.06GHz -- not desktop speeds, to be sure, but still promising. The team says that while the experiment bodes well for the future, we shouldn't expect any direct applications yet -- but you know we're dreaming of tiny implantable supercomputers anyway.
