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Technology Science

World Record: Four-Centimeter-Long Carbon Nanotube 87

Posted by timothy from the size-matters dept.
colonist writes "University of California scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory and chemists from Duke University have recently grown a four-centimeter-long, single-wall carbon nanotube (SWNT): a new world record. Previous SWNTs were a few millimeters long. Yuntian Zhu and his colleagues used a process called 'catalytic chemical vapor deposition' from ethanol (alcohol) vapor. From their abstract: 'Our results suggest the possibility of growing SWNTs continuously without any apparent length limitation.' Zhu: 'although this discovery is really only a beginning, the continued development of longer length carbon nanotubes could result in nearly endless applications. Actually, the potential uses for long carbon nanotubes are probably limited only by our imagination.'"
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World Record: Four-Centimeter-Long Carbon Nanotube More

World Record: Four-Centimeter-Long Carbon Nanotube

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  • Next stop... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by keiferb ( 267153 ) on Wednesday September 15, 2004 @09:49AM (#10255694) Homepage
    Space elevator, here we come!

  • they should read the spam I get (Score:5, Funny)

    by tod_miller ( 792541 ) on Wednesday September 15, 2004 @09:57AM (#10255754) Journal
    they'd have 13 inches already, without all that expensive equiptment!

    Wonderous stuff, if only to know that the most brilliant uses for this haven't been thought of yet.

  • I was going to post something about "could we spin these in space and spool them through the atmosphere for a space elevator, then I saw the growth rate:
    11 micrometres a second!
    Unless I've flubbed my math, that's over 4 days to grow the short length - not saying that's not a damned good thing, as we _need_ material if we're to get Out cheaply, but production speed is almost as important as strand length.

    Negativity aside (sorry, it's my nature); good work guys, keep on growing/going.
    • I think your math is wrong.

      10 micrometers is 1/100th of a centimeter, so that would be 400 seconds or 6:40 minutes.

      • Re:(Still a) Way to go. (Score:5, Informative)

        by amorsen ( 7485 ) <benny+slashdot@amorsen.dk> on Wednesday September 15, 2004 @10:20AM (#10255953)
        1/10th of a centimeter is a millimeter. 1/10000th of a centimeter is a micrometer. Anyway, at 11um/s, 4cm takes an hour. Geosynch takes a hundred thousand years. Better get started.

        • Re:(Still a) Way to go. (Score:5, Insightful)

          by John Hasler ( 414242 ) on Wednesday September 15, 2004 @11:39AM (#10256690) Homepage
          There is no need for the fibers to be as long as the cable. Ever look at a rope?
          • True, but the combined length of the fibers must be as long as the rope. (Well, longer, since there will be overlap). Before you say "just make lots at the same time", let me remind you that an elevator made of a single strand will be unable to lift anything significant. Lots must to be made at the same time just to get a sufficiently wide cable. Not that it matters really, it would be highly surprising if the first long carbon monofilament was made by an efficient process. A better process will be needed,

        • Re:(Still a) Way to go. (Score:3, Informative)

          by Alsee ( 515537 )
          Well long natural cotton fibers happen to be about the same length, for a growth rate of about 4cm per year. Which means we can grow these nanotube fibers almost ten thousand times faster than cotton fibers!

          -
          • Which means we can grow these nanotube fibers almost ten thousand times faster than cotton fibers!

            That's a very interesting way to think about it. Of course a research lab does take up much more space than a single cotton plant, and a single cotton plant makes more than one fiber, but still...

      • Urk. I suck. Trying again.
        Google reckons 11 micrometres is 0.0011 cm.
        Keeping everything in centimetres so I don't screw up again, it's 4/0.0011, or 3636 seconds, or about an hour.

        So, my plan of having a nice fat satellite in orbit growing the stuff seems a bit scuppered still. :(

    • "Production Speed" (Score:3, Interesting)

      by torpor ( 458 )
      Out cheaply, but production speed is almost as important as strand length.

      yeah. used to take them whole weeks to make a car, once upon a time. something about 'industrialization' changed all that, though ..
      • The question is, can we take short strand lengths and spin them together in order to make a diamond robe that'll stand its own weight?
        If that's possible then, sure, massively parallel production is the way to go, but if this stuff's non-spinnable we've got to start making long strands fast, and start planning _now_.
  • the potential uses for long carbon nanotubes are probably limited only by our imagination

    If it can't be used as a medium for pornography, it's not a proper invention!

    the first animated gifs I ever saw was porn
    the first avi I ever saw was porn
    the first mpeg movie I ever saw was porn
    the first DivX movie I saw was porn

    unzips flies waiting for the nanotube in the post ....

    I hope it says more about porn than it says about me :)
  • Hmmm... From the article:
    In addition to uses in lightweight, high-strength applications, these new long metallic nanotubes also will enable...
    Since when is Carbon metallic?

    • Re:Metallic carbon? (Score:4, Informative)

      by Dibblah ( 645750 ) on Wednesday September 15, 2004 @10:32AM (#10256041)
      Answering my own question here, but it appears the article is correct. Metallic in this case is refering to the crystaline structure that the carbon forms. This gives the nanotube certain properties that are 'metallic' - High tensile strength, ductile, flexible, etc.

      • Re:Metallic carbon? (Score:1, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Yeah, that's usually what we mean by metallic. :) Atoms have funny properties when they're arranged into specific structures. Just think of the differences between graphite (good conductor, relatively speaking) and diamond (very good insulator).

        The reason why metals are the way they are is because they have large numbers of free electrons in their matrix. Nanotubes are basically just graphite rolled up into a tube, and so they have an electronic structure which is more similar to metals than, say, diamon
      • don't forget about conducting electricity too. Graphite is also metallic and conducts well.

    • Re:Metallic carbon? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by rco3 ( 198978 )
      Following up to your own reply, a carbon nanotube has properties which are either metallic or semiconductive, depending on the chirality of the tube. Each tube is essentially a rolled-up piece of graphene (single layer of graphite), which has a hexagonal crystal lattice. If you imagine taking a sheet of that hexagonal structure and rolling it into a tube, there will clearly be a line along which the two opposite edges join, kinda like the line that runs up the back of the stocking.. :-) If you roll the s

  • Hype (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    " Actually, the potential uses for long carbon nanotubes are probably limited only by our imagination.'"

    And so begins the hype machine to ramp up. Don't get me wrong nanotubes have some neat applications but there is quite a gap from that to uses "limited only by our imagination".

    Remember only you can stop scientific hype.

    • Re:Hype (Score:2, Insightful)

      by bvwj ( 473084 )
      I have to disagree. The electrical, thermal and strength properties of this material make its applications limitless.

      I'll bet it becomes as important a material as doped silicon.
    • Well, if he was unimaginative enough not to come up with anything better than 'limited only by our imagination', then maybe the limits of his imagination are a fairly reasonable approximation of how useful these little guys will be. :)

  • 200 meter carbon nanotube fibers also out (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ghostlibrary ( 450718 ) on Wednesday September 15, 2004 @10:39AM (#10256096) Homepage Journal
    In Science News, June 14, 2003, Baughman's team of Univ of Texas made a single-walled carbon nanotube fiber composite that's the width of a human hair, and 100 to 200 meters long. The nanotubes are spun with polyvinyl alcohol, and are 4 times tougher than spider silk (the previous record-holder) as well as stronger (can hold more weight).

    100-200 meters, that's a length you can do useful stuff. One weird thing is, they weave it in with ordinary cloth to make supercapacitors in clothing (for built-in antenna,s tiny batteries, et cetera). The field is called 'electronic textiles'!

  • Technology is improving every day (Score:4, Funny)

    by Palshife ( 60519 ) on Wednesday September 15, 2004 @11:05AM (#10256336) Homepage
    Hydrocoptic marselvanes here we come! What's next, prefamulated amulite?
  • hey... if they could embed a permanent static electric charge in the fiber, it would repel dirt; then you could make a suit out of it that would never wear out and never need washing:

    SIDNEY [Alex Guinness to Joan Greenwood]: Do you know what a long chain molecule [imdb.com] is ?....
    • Electrons generally easily shift around to cancel out static charge in any molecule. If positive ions were embedded into the tubes, the tubes would immediately steal electrons from anything they came close to.

      I'm guessing that since CNT's are electrically conductive, they apparently have an outer electron cloud that facilitates electron motion almost as if they were free electrons (like in metal or something).

    • I'm no physicist, but wouldn't generating a permenant static electrc charge in the fiber require massive amounts of energy to keep pulling electrons away from a metallic fiber? If it were even possible, wouldn't the fibers shock a person whenever they touched the fibers?
      Wouldn't wearing a suit made of these fibers turn someone into a walking lightning rod? It sounds like a Darwin award just waiting to happen.

  • One use for Carbon Nanotubes: LUNG CANCER (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Bifster ( 697408 ) on Wednesday September 15, 2004 @12:11PM (#10257079)

    One thing that concerns me with nanotechnology is that the creation of all kinds of weird molecules that nature has no time to adapt to may leave us with some remarkably odd (and possibly pervasive) toxicity problems.

    What if CNT's get widely adopted into clothing, tupperware, etc, and then 30 years down the line we find that the little fibers that inevitably break off when you handle such material get lodged in the lungs and induce cancer (like asbestos and other kinds of fibers do)?

    I've heard of all kinds of interesting possible applications of CNT's (super strong fabrics and cables, conductive fabrics, electro-kinetic fabrics (generates electricity for your ipod just from you moving around)). But is anyone looking seriously into governing and exploring toxicity issues with these new synthetic molecules and materials?

    bif

  • Space Elevator!! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Jtheletter ( 686279 ) on Wednesday September 15, 2004 @12:42PM (#10257396)
    Space Elevator! Space Elevator! Space Elevator!

    Can we build it yet? huh? huh? Can we can we can we?

    Can you tell I'm really excited by this?

    Time to go enter a ribbon climbing robot contest!

    • Lyle Lanley: Well, sir, there's nothing on earth
      Like a genuine,
      Bona fide,
      Electrified,
      Six-car
      Space-Elevator!
      Wh a t'd I say?
      Ned Flanders: Space-Elevator!
      Lyle Lanley: What's it called?
      Patty+Selma: Space-Elevator!
      Lyle Lanley: That's right! Space-Elevator!

      Miss Hoover: I hear those things are awfully loud...
      Lyle Lanley: It climbs as softly as a cloud.
      Apu: Is there a chance the cable could break?
      Lyle Lanley: Not on your life, my Hindu friend.
      Barney: What about us brain-dead slobs?
      Lyle Lanley: You'll be given cushy

  • Why is this a record? According to Super Fibers: Nanotubes make tough threads [phschool.com], there have allready been 100 meter threads grown.

    From the article:

    By modifying a process developed by French researchers (SN: 12/16/00, p. 398), Baughman's team spins fibers made of carbon nanotubes and polyvinyl alcohol, a common industrial polymer. In the June 12 Nature, Baughman and his colleagues describe the finished threads, which are the width of a human hair and 100 to 200 meters long.

    • Because, as discussed above [slashdot.org], this is not a solid tube. Your own quote says:

      Baughman's team spins fibers made of carbon nanotubes and.

      The greater the length of nanotube, the less epoxy needed to hold the woven elevator ribbon together. Since the epoxy weighs a lot more than the nanotube, this is a good thing and reduces load on the ribbon from its own weight

  • In other words.... (Score:3, Funny)

    by MagicDude ( 727944 ) on Wednesday September 15, 2004 @01:55PM (#10258139)
    Yuntian Zhu and his colleagues used a process called 'catalytic chemical vapor deposition' from ethanol (alcohol) vapor.

    So in other words, they're having a few beers in the lab one night, and one of them spills it into the testing appratus.

    Scientist #1:"Dude? What have you done?"

    Scientist #2: (Frenzied running in circles) "Oh my God!! Oh my God!! Oh my God!! Oh my God!! Oh my God!! Oh my God!! Oh my God!!"

    Scientist #3: "Uhhh, guys, something's happening..."
  • Could this stuff be used to replace carbon fiber when making racecar parts?
  • I seem to recall that, some two years ago, an article (slashdot or not, I wasn't able to find it) quoted an engineer who was looking at the effects of individual nanotube lengths on the tensile strength of a nanotube composite.

    The quote I'm remembering was that, if they could reliably build single-walled nanotubes at least an inch long and use that composite design, the tensile strength would be enough to build the elevator.

    4 cm / 2.54 = orbit?

  • Okay, so we can make them. Say that nanotubes become commonplace. Say that somebody discoveres they cause brain disease in fish and lung cancer.

    How would we clean up the mess? Do they combust? Will they eventually oxidize to CO2? How do you destroy a carbon nanotube? Or will they just go through the food cycle causing damage for millenia?

  • Would a tube of that size and strength not cut easily through many kinds of different materials like a hot knife through butter?

    Would make one-hell of a cutting device, many different uses come to mind, but might be a bit dangerous to handle.

    Or am I completely off track?
  • One of the interesting technologies in Herbert's _Dune_ universe was shigawire, monomolecular wire. It was used as an extremely dense info medium. And as a razor++ sharp cutting tool (with novel uses by assassins). Larry Niven's "Known Space" universe also explored the implications of the exact technology. They've multiplied the lengths of these nanofibers from 10nm to 4cm - about a thousandfold - how long before we have another thousanfold, for 40m of material that does the tricks inspired by SF?

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