John_Stone Report This Comment Date: October 26, 2005 09:57AM
*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]
