Carbon nanotubes are one of science's best kept secrets.
These tiny, man-made materials boast extraordinary properties—they are the darkest material humans can create, they absorb light so well they can produce thermal energy, and they're able to mimic nature to help the body fight bacteria.
Researchers in Australia and China have found a cheaper, easier way to organize large groups of carbon nanotubes, potentially opening up many new avenues for their use by more scientists around the world.
Carbon nanotubes are usually grown on the surface of a material using a chemical process involving a carbon source and nanoscale metal catalysts, such as iron, nickel, and cobalt.
A glow-discharge plasma is used to grow the nanotubes vertically and free-standing to form a nanoscopic forest.
Pre-defined nanotube patterns require a catalyst template. Often, the creation of such templates involves an expensive and complicated process called lithography.
Lithography is justifiable in highly sophisticated industries like microelectronics but more affordable alternatives are needed for large scale, lower-tech applications.
Now, scientists have demonstrated an alternative for assembling and aligning powerful collections of carbon nanotubes without the need for lithography.
To read more, click here.