*Buckypaper From Double-Walled Carbon Nanotubes*
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(fig.1 above) DOUBLE VISION Transmission electron micrograph reveals nanotubes' perfect hexagonal packing.
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Although often overshadowed by their single- and multiwalled siblings, double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWNTs) are predicted to have superior mechanical properties, thermal conductivity, and structural stability. However, scientists have found it difficult to create DWNTs in the pure, highly crystalline form needed to study the tubes' properties in depth.

Now, an international team led by Morinobu Endo, an engineering professor at Shinshu University in Nagano, Japan, has developed a process for making highly pure DWNTs [Nature, 433, 476 (2005)]. They isolate the material in sheets as a tough "buckypaper" that is flexible enough to fold into a tiny paper airplane. Endo and coworkers envision more high-tech applications for the material in the future, such as nanotube bi-cables and electronic devices.

[pubs.acs.org]