Carbon Nanotubes 


Carbon nanotubes show promise for an extraordinary variety of products IBM recently demonstrated a carbon nanotube that produces infrared light. Motorola and Samsung are working on carbon nanotubes for flat-panel displays. Nantero is developing nanotube-based memory. And researchers at the University of North Carolina have shown carbon nanotube batteries to hold twice as much energy as conventional batteries.


Nanotubes have aroused great excitement because of their unique physical properties. They are very lightweight and extremely flexible. When a tube is bent it does not fracture like most materials but buckles like a drinking straw. When the strain is released the tube straightens out again. Carbon nanotubes are also predicted to be by far the strongest fibres that can be made. All of these factors mean that carbon nanotubes could be used for all kinds of interesting things in the future. Ideas include aeroplanes that are so lightweight that if the engines failed, they would simply glide. Buildings could be made earthquake proof. It might be an ideal material for bullet-proof vests. And of course there are applications in electronics with wires that could be kilometres long but only atoms thick.



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