The Role of Chemistry in History

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Monthioux, Marc and Kuznetsov, Vladimir L. (2006). “Who should be given the credit for the discovery of carbon nanotubes?”. Carbon 44. doi:10.1016/j.carbon.2006.03.019. Retrieved on 4/15/08.

Oberlin, A. M. Endo, and T. Koyama, J. Cryst. Growth (March 1976). “Filamentous growth of carbon through benzene decomposition” 32: 335 – 349. doi:10.1016/0022-0248(76)90115-9. Retrieved on 4/15/08.

Baughman, R. H. (2000). Putting a new spin on carbon nanotubes. Science, 290(5495), 1310-1311.

Baughman, R. H., Zakhidov, A. A., & Heer, W. A. d. (2002). Carbon nanotubes: The route toward applications. Science, 297(5582), 787-792.

Chen, J., Hamon, M. A., Hu, H., Chen, Y., Rao, A. M., Eklund, P. C., et al. (1998). Solution properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes. Science, 282(5386), 95-98.

Collins, P. G., Arnold, M. S., & Phaedon Avouris. (2001). Engineering carbon nanotubes and nanotube circuits using electrical breakdown. Science, 292(5517), 706-709.

Dresselhaus, M. S., Dresselhaus, G., Charlier, J. C., & Hernández, E. (2004). Electronic, thermal and mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes. Philosophical Transactions: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 362(1823, Nanotechnology of Carbon and Related Materials), 2065-2098.

Endo, M., Hayashi, T., Kim, Y. A., Terrones, M., & Dresselhaus, M. S. (2004). Applications of carbon nanotubes in the twenty-first century. Philosophical Transactions: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 362(1823, Nanotechnology of Carbon and Related Materials), 2223-2238.

Gorman, J. (2001). Chemists decorate nanotubes for usefulness. Science News, 159(25), 390.

H. W. Kroto, J. R. Heath, S. C. O’Brien, R. F. Curl and R. E. Smalley (1985). “C60: Buckminsterfullerene”. Nature 318: 162 – 163. doi:10.1038/318162a0.

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Kam, N. W. S., O’Connell, M., Wisdom, J. A., Dai, H., & Gray, H. B. (2005). Carbon nanotubes as multifunctional biological transporters and near-infrared agents for selective cancer cell destruction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 102(33), 11600-11605.

Kasumov, A. Y., Deblock, R., Kociak, M., Reulet, B., Bouchiat, H., Khodos, I. I., et al. (1999). Supercurrents through single-walled carbon nanotubes. Science, 284(5419), 1508-1511.

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IMAGES CITED (URLs)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_nanotubes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucky_ball

nanocarb.meijo-u.ac.jp/jst/Iijima/EIijima.html

www.nsti.org/news/item.html?id=50

www.new-england-contractor.com/dictionary.htm

www.germes-online.com/catalog/70/1238/25098/s…

www.emergentarchitecture.com/about.php?id=1

www.whatsnextnetwork.com/.../index.php/2005/08/

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Carbon Nanotubes

Carbon is the most versatile element on the planet. It can bond with itself and just about every other atom known to humans. Through these special properties, Carbon has the ability to create amazing structures like the Carbon Nanotube.

Nanotechnology is leading the way to the future. From their discovery in 1991 to current research today, carbon nanotubes present a bright future for electricity, cancer and disease treatment, and clothing development among countless other things. Dreams that only existed in science fiction may soon become reality.

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• Carbon nanotubes were thought to have been discovered in 1991 by an NEC employee, Sumio Iijima. New findings reveal, however, that two Soviet scientists were the first to observe a hollow nanometer carbon tube in 1952. Radushkevich and Lukyanovich’s discovery was largely unknown to American scientists because of little communication out of the USSR.

• Before they came to be known as carbon nanotubes, American scientists observed hollow tubes of rolled up graphite sheets in 1976. The first specimens observed would later come to be known as single walled nanotubes (SWNTs) because they are simply one layer of graphite.

• After Iijima formally introduced the scientific community to carbon nanotubes in 1991, the discovery of multi-walled nanotubes (MWNTs) followed. MWNTs are simply several layers of graphite which are then rolled into a cylinder. The layers of graphite form concentric circles if the tube were to be viewed from either end.

• SWNTs have proved to be the focus of scientists’ research and thus the following topics all refer to SWNTs except where noted.

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• The structure of carbon nanotubes is strikingly similar to that of diamond, fullerene, and graphite. In fact, carbon nanotubes are simply graphite sheets rolled up into a cylindrical shape as seen below.

• Carbon nanotubes are allotropic, meaning that they are a hexagonal network of carbon atoms bonded together.

• All the bonds between carbon atoms are sp2 hybridized (similar to diamond). This special characteristic gives the nanotube incredible strength for its minuscule size.

• Carbon nanotubes were discovered to be 20 times stronger than steel, 17 times stronger than kevlar, and 4 times stronger than spider silk.

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• Carbon nanotubes have few length limitations. Scientists have synthesized long carbon nanotubes and combined them with strands of fiber to create the possibility for clothes with incredible properties.

• Scientists have combined carbon nanotubes with polyvinyl alcohol and produced strands with a diameter comparable to human hair with an overall length of 100 to 200 meters.

The most common method for “growing” nanotubes is called chemical vapor deposition or CVD.

This method is the most practical for manufacturing nanotubes with a usable length.

• Carbon nanotubes have incredible strength. By putting on a piece of clothing with woven carbon nanotubes, one is putting on a garment with 17 times the strength of modern bulletproof vests made of kevlar.

• Technologies not far off include explosion proof blankets and military apparel with built in high power batteries, sensors, and radio antennas.

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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.

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

 

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Perhaps the most important use of carbon nanotubes is selective cancer and disease treatment.

• Unique properties of nanotubes make them ideal carriers of treatment into cancerous cells.

• By attaching antibodies to the nanotubes cancerous cells can be targeted.

• Because nanotubes are especially receptive to near-infrared light, they make targeting cancerous cells extremely effective and minimize damage to surrounding cells.

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