carbonnanotube

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  • NASA/W. Hrybyk

    NASA is making a small carbon nanotube telescope for CubeSats

    A team of NASA Goddard scientists are developing a lightweight and low-cost telescope small enough to fit inside CubeSats. Those mini satellites provide the agency an inexpensive means to send various experiments to outer space. By creating a small telescope sensitive to ultraviolet, visible and infrared wavelength bands that can fit inside a CubeSat, NASA will be able to explore space for cheap. Obviously, the images it sends back won't be as high-res as the photos taken by Hubble or by one of the humongous ground-based telescopes. However, the team says it could be a great "exploratory tool for quick looks that could lead to larger missions." It will also likely be the first one to use the new carbon nanotube mirror the team designed.

    Mariella Moon
    07.13.2016
  • Non-toxic carbon nanotube battery could power space probes

    MIT researchers are developing an alternative to lithium batteries that uses absolutely no toxic materials and isn't prone to spontaneous combustion. This alternative source of power takes the form of wires made out of carbon nanotubes -- the same cylindrical carbon molecules used to create the darkest material on Earth. Those wires produce electricity if you heat them from one end to the other. That's because the heat carries "electrons with it like a bunch of surfers riding a wave" through the carbon nanotube bundles. They do need a combustible material to burn, but the team made sure to use a material that's also benign and non-toxic: ordinary table sugar.

    Mariella Moon
    03.14.2016
  • Getty Creative

    Carbon nanotube film is stronger and stretchier than kevlar

    Researchers at East China University of Science & Technology have finally managed to develop a macroscopic material that exhibits the same strength and pliability as individual nanotubes. In fact, their new carbon nanotube-based film that is five times stronger and 8 percent more pliable than any such material previously developed.

  • This new carbon nanotube material is the darkest thing on the planet

    We know what darkness is: it's the absence of light, and something we each encounter when the sun goes down. Seeing darkness in broad daylight on the other hand, that's weird. It's also, astonishingly, a completely possible thing. Sitting on a piece of aluminum foil in Surrey NanoSystems' lab is something called Vantablack -- a low-temperature carbon nanotube material that absorbs 99.96% of all light that touches it. It's effectively the darkest material on the planet, and anything draped in becomes non-reflective, losing any and all surface detail. So, what's the point? This new ultra dark material uses a low-temperature process, which allows it to be applied to things like stealth vehicles or telescopes, allowing them to avoid detection or see farther, respectively. The firm says it's scaling up production for customers in the defense and space sectors. The company says it's already delivered its first orders, and says its working on an even darker version of Vantablack. Well, here's to a darker future. [Image credit: Surrey NanoSystems]

    Sean Buckley
    07.15.2014
  • 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.

    Steve Dent
    10.10.2012
  • 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.

    Jon Fingas
    06.22.2012
  • 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.

    Sean Buckley
    02.26.2012
  • 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.

    Darren Murph
    12.09.2010
  • 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.

    Tim Stevens
    09.07.2010
  • 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]

    Darren Murph
    09.17.2009
  • 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!]

    Darren Murph
    10.19.2008
  • 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]

    Darren Murph
    03.22.2008
  • 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.

    Nilay Patel
    01.31.2008