Carbon Nanotubes

What are Carbon nanotubes.

•Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are allotropes of carbon. These
cylindrical carbon molecules have interesting properties that
make them potentially useful in many applications in
nanotechnology, electronics, optics and other fields of
materials science, as well as potential uses in architectural
fields. They exhibit extraordinary strength and unique
electrical properties, and are efficient conductors of heat.
Their final usage, however, may be limited by their potential
toxicity.
 How CNTs are made
• Arc discharge
– CNTs Can be found in the carbon soot of graphite
electrodes during an arc discharge involving high current.
This process yields CNTs with lengths up to 50 microns.
• Laser Ablation
– In the laser ablation process, a pulsed laser vaporizes a
graphite target in a high-temperature reactor while an inert
gas is inserted into the reactor. Nanotubes develop on the
cooler surfaces of the reactor as the vaporized carbon
condenses.

• Other methods where CNTs are created:

- Chemical Vapor Decomposition
- Natural, incidental, and controlled flame environments
 Properties
• Strength
• Electrical
• Thermal
• Defects
• One-Dimensional Transport
• Toxicity
 Strength Properties
• Carbon nanotubes have the strongest tensile
strength of any material known.
• It also has the highest modulus of elasticity.
Young's Modulus Tensile Strength Elongation at
Material
(TPa) (GPa) Break (%)
SWNT ~1 (from 1 to 5) 13-53E 16
Armchair
0.94T 126.2T 23.1
SWNT
Zigzag SWNT 0.94T 94.5T 15.6-17.5
Chiral SWNT 0.92
MWNT 0.8-0.9E 150
Stainless Steel ~0.2 ~0.65-1 15-50
Kevlar ~0.15 ~3.5 ~2
KevlarT 0.25 29.6
 Electrical Properties
• If the nanotube structure is armchair
then the electrical properties are
metallic
• If the nanotube structure is chiral
then the electrical properties can be
either semiconducting with a very
small band gap, otherwise the
nanotube is a moderate
semiconductor
• In theory, metallic nanotubes can
carry an electrical current density of
4×109 A/cm2 which is 1,000 times
greater than metals such as copper
 Thermal Properties
• All nanotubes are expected to be very good thermal
conductors along the tube, but good insulators laterally to
the tube axis.

• It is predicted that carbon nanotubes will be able to

transmit up to 6000 watts per meter per Kelvin at room
temperature; compare this to copper, a metal well-known
for its good thermal conductivity, which transmits 385
watts per meter per K.

• The temperature stability of carbon nanotubes is estimated

to be up to 2800oC in vacuum and about 750oC in air.
 Defects

• Defects can occur in the form of atomic

vacancies. High levels of such defects can
lower the tensile strength by up to 85%.

• Because of the very small structure of CNTs,

the tensile strength of the tube is
dependent on its weakest segment in a
similar manner to a chain, where the
strength of the weakest link becomes the
maximum strength of the chain.
 One-Dimensional Transport
• Due to their nanoscale dimensions, electron transport in
carbon nanotubes will take place through quantum effects
and will only propagate along the axis of the tube. Because of
this special transport property, carbon nanotubes are
frequently referred to as “one-dimensional.”
 Applications
• Electrical
1. Field emission in vacuum electronics
2. Building block for next generation of VLSI
3. Nano lithography
• Energy storage
1. Lithium batteries
2. Hydrogen storage
• Biological
1. Bio-sensors
2. Functional AFM tips
3. DNA sequencing
 Applications
• Nanotubes hold the promise of creating novel
devices, such as carbon-based single-electron
transistors, that significantly smaller than
conventional transistors.
 Nanotubes’ excellent strength to weight ratio
creates the potential to build an elevator to
space.
 Quantum Computing
• Nanotubes and other Fullerenes can be filled
with molecules that have either an electronic
or structural property which can be used to
represent the quantum bit (Qubit) of
information, and which can be associated with
other adjacent Qubits.
Biological applications: Bio-sensing
• Many spherical nano-particles have been
fabricated for biological applications.
• Nanotubes offer some advantages relative to
nanoparticles by the following aspects:
1. Larger inner volumes – can be filled with chemical or
biological species.
2. Open mouths of nanotubes make the inner surface
accessible.
3. Distinct inner and outer surface can be modified separately.

Institute of Optics, University of Rochester 26

 Biological applications: AFM tips
Carbon nanotubes as AFM probe tips:
1. Small diameter – maximum resolution
2. Excellent chemical and mechanical robustness
3. High aspect ratio

Resolution of ~ 12nm is achieved

Biological applications: Functional AFM tips
Molecular-recognition AFM probe tips:
• Certain bimolecular is attached to the CNT tip
• This tip is used to study the chemical forces between
molecules – Chemical force microscopy
 Biological applications: DNA sequencing
• Nanotube fits into the
major grove of the DNA
strand
• Apply bias voltage across
CNT, different DNA base-
pairs give rise to different
current signals
• With multiple CNT, it is
possible to do parallel fast
DNA sequencing Top view and side view of the
assembled CNT-DNA system
 Challenges and future
• Future applications:
1. Already in product: CNT tipped AFM
2. Big hit: CNT field effect transistors based nano electronics.
3. Futuristic: CNT based OLED, artificial muscles…

• Challenges
1. Manufacture: Important parameters are hard to control.
2. Large quantity fabrication process still missing.
3. Manipulation of nanotubes.
 Health Hazards
• According to scientists at the National Institute
of Standards and Technology, carbon nanotubes
shorter than about 200 nanometers readily
enter into human lung cells similar to the way
asbestos does, and may pose an increased risk
to health.
• Carbon nanotubes along with the majority of
nanotechnology, are an unexplored matter, and
many of the possible health hazards are still
unknown.