Making Carbon Nanotube Production Financially Viable
OCT 13, 2006
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.020519
Azonano.com : Current techniques for creating carbon nanotubes result in a mass of nanotubes with different electronic and structural properties. Researchers from Northwestern University have developed a method for sifting and automatically grading the nanotubes by exploiting the buoyant densities of nanotubes. These densities are a function of their size and electronic behavior. The nanotubes are dropped into water coated by soap-like molecules called surfactants. A centrifuge spins the liquid to high speed. By carefully choosing the surfactants utilized during ultracentrifugation, the researchers found that carbon nanotubes could be sorted by diameter and electronic structure. The technique can be easily scaled up to industrial production. The results were published in Nature Nanotechnology.
© 2006 American Institute of Physics
