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Carbon Nanotubes can be produced with predictable diameter and chirality
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A key reason carbon nanotubes are not in computers right now is that they are difficult to manufacture in a predictable way. Scientists have had a difficult time controlling the manufacture of nanotubes to the correct diameter, type and ultimately chirality — factors that control nanotubes’ electrical and mechanical properties.
Think of chirality like this: If you took a sheet of notebook paper and rolled it straight up into a tube, it would have a certain chirality. If you rolled that same sheet up at an angle, it would have a different chirality. In this example, the notebook paper represents a sheet of latticed carbon atoms that are rolled up to create a nanotube.
A team led by Professor Chongwu Zhou of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and Ming Zheng of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Maryland solved the problem by inventing a system that consistently produces carbon nanotubes of a predictable diameter and chirality.
See more and subscribe to NextBigFuture at 2012-11-15 02:42:14 Source: http://nextbigfuture.com/2012/11/carbon-nanotubes-can-be-produced-with.html
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