. Nano Technology News .




NANO TECH
Researchers figure out how to 'grow' carbon nanotubes with specific atomic structures
by Staff Writers
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Sep 10, 2013


The nanotubes are tubes of graphene, which is made from sheets of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal pattern. (Courtesy of Chongwu Zhou and Jia Liu)

Move over, silicon. In a breakthrough in the quest for the next generation of computers and materials, researchers at USC have solved a longstanding challenge with carbon nanotubes: how to actually build them with specific, predictable atomic structures.

"We are solving a fundamental problem of the carbon nanotube," said Chongwu Zhou, professor in the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and corresponding author of the study published August 23 in the journal Nano Letters. "To be able to control the atomic structure, or chirality, of nanotubes has basically been our dream, a dream in the nanotube field."

If this is an age built on silicon, then the next one may be built on carbon nanotubes, which have shown promise in everything from optics to energy storage to touch screens. Not only are nanotubes transparent, but this research discovery on how to control the atomic structure of nanotubes will pave the way for computers that are smaller, faster and more energy efficient than those reliant on silicon transistors.

"We are now working on scale up the process," Zhou said. "Our method can revoutionize the field and significantly push forward the real applications of nanotube in many fields."

Until now, scientists were unable to "grow" carbon nanotubes with specific attributes - say metallic rather than semiconducting - instead getting mixed, random batches and then sorting them. The sorting process also shortened the nanotubes significantly, making the material less practical for many applications.

For more than three years, the USC team has been working on the idea of using these short sorted nanotubes as "seeds" to grow longer nanotubes, extending them at high temperatures to get the desired atomic structure.

A paper last year by the same team in Nature Communications outlined the technique, and in the current Nano Letters paper, the researchers report on their latest major success: identifying the "growth recipes" for building carbon nanotubes with specific atomic structures.

"We identify the mechanisms required for mass amplification of nanotubes," said co-lead author Jia Liu, a doctoral student in chemistry at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, recalling the moment when, alone in a dark room, she finally saw the spectral data supporting their method. "It was my Eureka moment."

"To understand nanotube growth behaviors allows us to produce larger amounts of nanotubes and better control that growth," she continued.

Each defined type of carbon nanotube has a frequency at which it expands and contracts. The researchers showed that the newly grown nanotubes had the same atomic structure by matching the Raman frequency.

"This is a very exciting field, and this was the most difficult problem," said co-lead author Bilu Liu, a postdoctoral research associate at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. "I met Professor Zhou [senior author of the paper] at a conference and he said he wanted to tackle the challenge of controlling the atomic structure of nanotubes. That's what brought me to his lab, because it was the biggest challenge."

In addition, the study found that nanotubes with different structures also behave very differently during their growth, with some nanotube structures growing faster and others growing longer under certain conditions.

"Previously it was very difficult to control the chirality, or atomic structure, of nanotubes, particularly when using metal nanoparticles," Bilu Liu said. "The structures may look quite similar, but the properties are very different. In this paper we decode the atomic structure of nanotubes and show how to control precisely that atomic structure."

Additional authors of the study are Jialu Zhang of USC and Xiaomin Tu and Ming Zheng of the National Institute of Standards and Technology,.

.


Related Links
University of Southern California
Nano Technology News From SpaceMart.com
Computer Chip Architecture, Technology and Manufacture






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle




Memory Foam Mattress Review

Newsletters :: SpaceDaily Express :: SpaceWar Express :: TerraDaily Express :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News

Get Our Free Newsletters
Space - Defense - Environment - Energy - Solar - Nuclear

...





NANO TECH
New breakthrough for structural characterization of metal nanoparticles
Helsinki, Finland (SPX) Sep 09, 2013
Researchers at the Xiamen University in China and the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland have characterized a series of stable 1.5 nm metal nanoclusters containing 44 metal atoms, stabilized by 30 organic thiol molecules on the surface. Two types of clusters were synthesized, containing either 44 silver atoms or an intermetallic cluster of 12 gold and 32 silver atoms. The work in the ... read more


NANO TECH
Raytheon moves forward on DARPA Persistent Close Air Support program

USAF and Boeing Finalize KC-46A Tanker Aircraft Design

Boeing Forecasts China's Fleet to Triple Over Next 20 Years

BAE considers military refueling conversion for commercial jet

NANO TECH
China civilian technology satellites put into use

China to launch lunar lander by end of year: media

China launches three experimental satellites

Medical quarantine over for Shenzhou-10 astronauts

NANO TECH
Iran foreign minister says Facebook page hacked

Yahoo CEO fears defying NSA on data could mean prison

Israel's secret intel unit spawns high-tech tycoons

New York Times website still down after hack attack

NANO TECH
Tool Created to Avert Future Energy Crisis

Cyberattacks threaten electrical grid

Time for Investors to Hunker Down

NREL Study Suggests Cost Gap for Western Renewables Could Narrow by 2025

NANO TECH
Probing methane's secrets: From diamonds to Neptune

How the newest diesel engines emit very little greenhouse gas nitrous oxide

China confirms new gas pipeline through Tajikistan

Chevron, Transocean settle over Rio oil spill

NANO TECH
Non-lethal weapons markets seen to be growing

Warrior Web Closer to Making Its Performance-Improving Suit a Reality

Russia unveils plans for new anti-missile system, 5th-generation fighter jet

MEADS System to Identify Friend Or Foe Aircraft Certified by U.S. Air Traffic Control Office

NANO TECH
Researchers figure out how to 'grow' carbon nanotubes with specific atomic structures

Accidental nanoparticle discovery could hail revolution in manufacturing

Researchers produce nanostructures with potential to advance energy devices

Size Matters as Nanocrystals Go Through Phases

NANO TECH
A swarm on every desktop: Robotics experts learn from public

Robots take over

European researchers envision wearable exoskeleton for factory workers

Ultra-fast trading robots can send markets out of control




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2012 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement