The Role of Chemistry in History

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Electricity & Power

April 24th, 2008 · No Comments ·

 

|| INTRODUCTION || DISCOVERY || STRUCTURE || “SMART” CLOTHES ||

|| ELECTRICITY & POWER || CANCER & DISEASE TREATMENT || REFERENCES ||

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Electric Vehicles

The current fossil fuel crisis is producing the need for more efficient and alternative energy solutions. Carbon nanotubes and their application to electrical devices may prove to be the solution scientists have so eagerly sought.

The separation between carbon nanotubes in a nanotube capacitor is only a nanometer whereas the separation in a traditional modern capacitor is a micrometer. The extremely small distance increases the electrical capacity.

  • A large charge can be put into a nanotube capacitor with only a few administered volts. Supercapacitors such as these could be used in lieu of modern batteries: they have a higher power capability and more capacity.
  • These possibilities lead to usable, electric only, cars. The extraordinary power of the battery would allow a car to accelerate rapidly and be able to travel over relatively long distances as opposed to current battery powered cars which can only operate at certain speeds for relatively short amounts of time. The batteries operate at low voltage levels and work in temperatures up to 350 degrees Celsius.

 

Electronic devices decrease in size by half every three years!

 

  • Carbon nanotubes will allow scientists to keep with this trend – all silicon based electronics could be phased out within a decade as nanotube circuits continue to be refined.

nanotube_circuit.jpg

LCD (liquid crystal display) televisions may be eclipsed by TVs that use carbon nanotubes as an outer layer on their display surface.

  • Aligned nanotube displays have –
  • Wider viewing angle
  • Higher resolution
  • Faster response rate
  • Lower energy comsumption
  • Much larger operating temperature range
  • All these characteristics originate from nanotubes’ unique surface electric and electromagnetic properties

The Light Bulbs of the Future

 

Nanotube coated light bulbs –

  • Will be made available for commercial use in the near future
  • In laboratory tests had lifespan of greater than 8000 hours
    • They have the long lifespan without the environmental impacts of mercury-fluorescent light bulbs.
  • Have the output to illuminate stadiums

 

Tags: Carbon Nanotubes