It might look like a roll of chicken wire, but this tiny cylinder of carbon atoms—too small to see with the naked eye—could one day be used for making electronic devices ranging from night vision goggles and motion detectors to more efficient solar cells, thanks to techniques developed by researchers at Duke University.
Their work is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
First discovered in the early 1990s, carbon nanotubes are made from single sheets of carbon atoms rolled up like a straw.
Carbon isn't exactly a newfangled material. All life on Earth is based on carbon. It's the same stuff found in diamonds, charcoal, and pencil lead. What makes carbon nanotubes special are their remarkable properties. These tiny cylinders are stronger than steel, and yet so thin that 50,000 of them would equal the thickness of a human hair.
They're also amazingly good at conducting electricity and heat, which is why, in the push for faster, smaller, more efficient electronics, carbon nanotubes have long been touted as potential replacements for silicon.
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