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CARBON NANOTUBES
INTRODUCTION
Graphite
Soft material
Electrical conductor
Graphite sheets can form various Cage-like structures
- Fullerene:C60(Buckminsterfullerene)
- Carbon nanotubes (CNT)
Other examples are nanotubes of boron nitride (BN), silica, transition metal
oxides (e,g. VOx and hydrogen titanates), sulfides (WS2, MoS2) and halides.
Types of a Carbon nanotube
Single-walled carbon nanotube Multi-walled carbon nanotube
– Tube with only one wall – Tube with two or more walls
Chiral vector(Ch):
Ch = n a1+ m a2
where, a1 & a2 are the unit vectors, n & m are integers
Chiral angle ():
Sin = √3m / 2√n2 + m2 + nm
Graphite layer with atoms labeled using (n,m) notation Construction of the unit cell for a (6,3) nanotube
THREE TYPES OF CARBON NANOTUBE STRUCTURES
A single-walled carbon nanotube is characterized by a set of two integers (n, m)
called the chirality vector
Armchair nanotubes When n = m, e.g. (3,3)
and = 30o
Chiral nanotubes All nanotubes with 0 o < < 30o e.g. (10,5)
D = ( 3√d / ) √n2 + m2 + nm
SWCNTs MWCNTs
Graphene Sheet
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES:
•MWCNT’s Metallic
•SWCNT’s Semi-conducting or Metallic
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES:
Their ability to carry current and heat along the axial direction is extraordinary, and
therefore has the potential to replace copper wires as conductors.
The ability to create tubes of either metallic or semiconductor nature is of great practical
importance. Today's computer chips use silicon (which is a semiconductor) along with copper
(which is a metal) to build circuits. Scientists and engineers envision all carbon-based
electronics using semiconducting and metallic carbon nanotubes of different values of n and m.
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES:
• High Strength to Weight ratio~1.8 g/cm2
(100 times that of steel, and twice that of carbon fibers)
-good for light weight applications.
• highly resistant to chemical attack.
• Difficult to oxidize, the oxidation temp is 100 oC higher than that of carbon fibers
THERMAL PROPERTIES:
MAGNETIC PROPERTIES:
OPTICAL PROPERTIES:
•High mechanical strength (tensile strength 200GPa) and modulus (Young’s modulus
1TPa)
•High electrical conductivity (10-6 ohm m typically), and for well crystallised
nanotubes ballistic transport is observed
Various Methods
Arc Discharge
Pulsed Laser Vaporization (Laser Ablation)
Chemical Vapor Deposition
Arc Discharge Method
Schematic of Arc Discharge Apparatus
He
He
•Carbon atoms are evaporated from the anode, by a plasma of Helium gas that is produced when high currents is
passed through opposing carbon anode and cathode
•Carbon clusters, Fullerene molecules, Carbon Nanotubes, amorphous carbon etc, get deposited on cathode rod
(a) 20 Torr
(b) 100 Torr
(c) 500 Torr
Produces pure and well aligned Carbon nanotubes at low temperature of 500-900°C
Cleaned Si substrates Si
Tip Growth
Introduction of hydrocarbon
gas(C2H2) to initiate the synthesis
of carbon nanotubes
Base Growth
Synthesis Procedure of Carbon Nanotubes:
•A quartz tube about 2.5 cm in diameter serves as the growth reactor and is
inserted inside a tube furnace (a tube furnace is a standard heating device).
•Carbon nanotubes are grown on silicon wafer placed at the center inside
the quartz tube. A thin layer of iron or nickel or cobalt is first deposited onto
the silicon wafer to serve as a catalyst to grow the nanotubes.
Deposition Parameters:
Microwave Power = 500W
Pretreatment Time = 15 min
Pressure in the Chamber = 5 Torr
Particle Size is approx. 100-200nm
vertically aligned CNTs over SiO2 /Si Substrate Length of CNTs is approx. 10µm
Filled Nanotubes:
Single-walled carbon nanotubes have been attached to the tip of an AFM probe
to make the tip “sharper”. This allows much higher resolution imaging of the
surface under investigation; a single atom has been imaged on a surface using
nanotube-enhanced AFM probes. Also, the flexibility of the nanotube prevents
damage to the sample surface and the probe tip if the probe tip happens to
“crash” into the surface.
Current and Future Applications
Solar Light
Chemical sensors:
CNTs sensitive to gas and pressure:
change of their electronic properties
In the future, nanotube sensors could be used for security and environmental
applications.
Drug delivery with Buckyballs (Fullerene):
Scientists are also testing fullerenes for drug delivery. Many drug molecules can be
attached to a fullerene. The medicine loaded fullerene can then be attached to an
antibody. Antibodies are Y-shaped proteins that can recognize and attach to things in the
body called antigens. Viruses, bacteria and diseases in the body each have unique
antigens. The antibody finds the disease in the body then the attached fullerene delivers
the appropriate medicine. Just like with magnetic nanoparticles, medicine can be sent
only to place where it is needed, leaving healthy cells alone