Carbon Nanotubes The Wonder Material of the Future
Carbon nanotubes are allotropes of carbon that take the form of hollow cylinders made of one or multiple graphene sheets rolled up into a cylindrical shape with diameters in the nanometer scale. The cylinders are capped with half fullerene molecules at both ends. They exhibit extraordinary strength and unique electrical properties and are efficient conductors of heat. These carbon cylinders have sparked a great deal of interest among scientists and researchers due to their remarkable properties and potential applications across different fields.
Properties
They are about 50,000 times smaller than human hair but are estimated to be about 100 times stronger than steel at about 1/6th the weight of steel. They have high tensile strength and elastic modulus. They also have excellent thermal and electrical conductivity. Single-walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWCNTs) can carry an electric current density 1000 times greater than copper wires and exhibit ballistic conduction at room temperature. SWCNTs also show quantum electronic behavior and can be either metallic or semiconducting based on their spiral pattern. Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) have an inner diameter of 2-50 nanometers and are nested, coaxial, graphitic cylinders and are always metallic in nature.
Potential Applications
Due to their unique properties, they have generated interest among researchers for various applications:
- Electronics and Sensors: They can be used as electronic devices like transistors, diodes, logic gates etc to replace silicon in electronics. They are also promising materials for building ultra-fast quantum computers and flat panel displays. Sensors developed using nanotubes have high sensitivity and low limit of detection.
- Energy Storage: They can significantly boost lithium-ion batteries, fuel cells and supercapacitors. They are being researched to enhance energy density and battery life. supercapacitors provide faster charging abilities over batteries.
- Structural Composites: They can augment material properties like density, strength and stiffness when added to composites. They are extensively studied to strengthen composites for aircraft, vehicle, sports equipment and infrastructure applications. Multi-walled nanotubes are finding use in 3D printing of structural composites.
- Aerospace: Lightweight nanotube-based composites have potential to revolutionize the aerospace industry by enabling the manufacturing of stronger and lighter space shuttles, aircraft and satellites. This can result in huge fuel savings.
- Biomedical Applications: Biocompatible nanotubes show promise for targeted drug delivery, tissue engineering, bioimaging and cancer therapy. Functionalized carbon nanotubes can be used as nanorobots to detect anomalies or perform microscopic surgeries inside the human body without invasive techniques.
Challenges in Commercializing Nanotubes
While they exhibit extraordinary properties, achieving their commercial potential faces certain technological hurdles:
- Mass Production Challenge: High-yield and low-cost mass production of nanotubes with consistent qualities is still a major challenge. Current production methods like arc discharge and chemical vapor deposition have limitations in terms of scalability and throughput.
- Purification Difficulties: As-produced nanotubes contain impurities that need to be removed for applications. However, the existing purification techniques are expensive and not suitable for industrial scale up.
- Functionalization Problems: Chemical functionalization of nanotubes is required to make them compatible with polymers or enhance their solubility. However, functionalization can negatively impact the mechanical properties. Developing reliable and scalable functionalization methods is critical.
- Issues in Material Integration: Integrating them with host materials at molecular level for enhanced composite properties without discontinuities remains a materials science challenge. Proper dispersion, alignment and adhesion of nanotubes are issues being addressed.
- Toxicity Concerns: Long term health and environmental impact studies still need to be carried out before nanotubes can be commercialized in biomedical applications or consumer products on a large scale. Concerns over worker safety in manufacturing facilities exist as well.
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