carbon nanotube

carbon nanotube, nanoscale hollow tubes composed of carbon atoms. The cylindrical carbon molecules feature high aspect ratios (length-to-diameter values) typically above 10³, with diameters from about 1 nanometer up to tens of nanometers and lengths up to millimeters. This unique one-dimensional structure and concomitant properties endow carbon nanotubes with special natures, rendering them with unlimited potential in nanotechnology-associated applications. Carbon nanotubes are members of the fullerene family. Although the first fullerene molecules were discovered in 1985, it was not until Sumio Iijima reported his findings in 1991 about needlelike carbon tubes in Nature that carbon nanotubes came to public awareness.

Since then, carbon nanotubes with various structures have been discovered. According to the number of graphic shells, they are mainly categorized as single-walled (SWNTs) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs). The carbon nanotubes reported by Iijima were MWNTs synthesized by arc discharge methods. Two years later, two sets of researchers working independently—Iijima and Toshinari Ichihashi, along with Donald S. Bethune and his colleagues at IBM—synthesized SWNTs, using transition-metal catalyzed arc discharge.

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A SWNT can be described as a long tube formed by wrapping a single graphene sheet into a cylinder with diameter of about 1 nanometer, the ends of which are capped by fullerene cages. The fullerene structures, with alternating structures of five hexagons adjacent to one pentagon, form the surface with desired curvature to enclose the volume. The sidewalls of carbon nanotubes are made of graphene sheets consisting of neighboring hexagonal cells. Other polygon structures, such as pentagons and heptagons, constitute defects of sidewalls. The cylindrical sidewalls can be produced from different rolling directions to make SWNTs with distinct structures and properties. Due to cylindrical symmetry, there are only a handful of methods that are effective in making seamless cylinders, and they are characterized by the chiral vectors with integer indices (n, m). To establish the chiral vector, two atoms in the graphene sheet are selected, with one serving as the origin of the vector pointing toward the other atom. The graphene sheet is then rolled in a way that allows the two atoms to coincide. Under these circumstances, the chiral vectors form a plane perpendicular to the longitude direction of nanotubes and the lengths of the chiral vectors are equal to the circumference. Three different types of SWNTs are distinctly characterized, named “zigzag” (m = 0), “armchair” (n = m), and “chiral.” These structural variations result in differences in electrical conductivity and mechanical strength.

MWNTs are concentrically aligned SWNT assemblies with different diameters. The distance between adjacent shells is about 0.34 nanometer. MWNTs differ from SWNTs not only in their dimensions, but also in their corresponding properties. Various techniques have been developed to produce carbon nanotubes in sizable quantity, high yield, and purity, while maintaining a reasonable cost. Well-developed techniques include arc discharge, laser ablation, and chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and most processes involve costly vacuum conditions.

Arc discharge was initially used for the synthesis of fullerenes. In a typical experimental setup, a chamber filled with low-pressure (50 to 700 mbar) inert gas (helium, argon) is where the reaction takes place. Two carbon rods are placed end-to-end as the electrodes, separated by a few millimeters, and a direct current of 50 to 100 A (driven by a potential difference of 20 V) generates a high discharge temperature to sublime the negative electrode, leaving soot where carbon nanotubes are found. This method is the most common way to synthesize carbon nanotubes and perhaps the easiest way. The quality of carbon nanotubes depends on the uniformity of plasma arc, catalysts, and the selection of filling gases. A mixture of carbon nanotubes is usually produced; thus, purification processes are needed to remove the fullerenes, amorphous carbon, and catalysts.

Laser ablation was first employed to produce carbon nanotubes in 1995. A pulsed or continuous laser is used to vaporize a graphite (or graphite metal mixture) target in a 1,200 °C (2,200 °F) oven filled with inert gas at a pressure of 500 torr. Carbon vapors cool down rapidly during expansion, and carbon atoms quickly condense to form tubular structures with the help of catalyst particles. MWNTs can be synthesized when pure graphite is vaporized, and SWNTs are grown from graphite-transition metal (cobalt, nickel, etc.) mixtures. The method is primarily used to synthesize SWNTs with high selectivity and in a diameter-controllable way by tailoring reaction temperatures. The resulting products are usually in the form of bundles. Laser ablation is the most costly technique due to the involvement of expensive lasers and high power input.

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is the most promising way to produce carbon nanotubes on an industrial scale. This process utilizes high energy (600–900 °C [1,100–1,650 °F]) to atomize gaseous carbon sources, such as methane, carbon monoxide, and acetylene. The resulting reactive carbon atoms diffuse toward a catalyst-coated substrate and condense to form carbon nanotubes. Well-aligned carbon nanotubes can be synthesized with precisely controlled morphology, provided that proper reaction conditions are maintained, including preparation of substrates, selection of catalysts, etc.

Novel chemical, electrical, and mechanical properties absent in other materials have been discovered in carbon nanotubes. Pristine carbon nanotubes are inert to most chemicals and need to be grafted with surface functional groups to increase their chemical reactivity and add new properties. For SWNTs, electrical conductivity is dependent on the chiral vector and independent of the length as determined by quantum mechanics. Considering a chiral vector with indices (n, m), carbon nanotubes are metallic when n = m or (n - m) = 3i (i is an integer) and semiconducting in other cases. Along the longitude directions, carbon nanotubes show superior mechanical strength, with the highest known tensile strength and elastic modulus among known materials.

As for thermal properties, carbon nanotubes outperform diamond as the best thermal conductor. Applications of carbon nanotubes are aimed to make use of their unique properties to solve problems at the nanoscale. Their high surface area, together with the unique ability to carry any chemical compounds after surface modification, offers carbon nanotubes the potential to be used as nanoscale catalyst supports with high catalytic reactivity and chemical sensors. They are known to be the best field emitters due to their sharp tips, which can concentrate electric field easily, enabling them to emit electrons at low voltages.

This property has special applications in field emission flat-panel displays and cold-cathode electron guns used in microscopes. In nanoelectronics, SWNTs have been used to fabricate transistors that can function at room temperature and are potential candidates for devices operating at tetrahertz (THZ) frequencies. Engineering materials using carbon nanotubes as additives have exhibited capability to make plastic composites with enhanced electrical conductivity and mechanical strength. For biomedical applications, carbon nanotubes show promise as vehicles for targeted drug-delivery and nerve cell regeneration. However, their future success in bio-related applications is highly subject to the toxicity study, which is still in an early stage.

Some researchers have become concerned about the health risks involving carbon nanotubes, which according to lab research seem to pose a danger to human health that is similar to asbestos. In particular, exposure to carbon nanotubes has been associated with mesothelioma, a cancer of the lung lining. If inhaled, it is believed that nanotubes can scar lung tissues in a manner similar to asbestos fibers, a cause for concern because nanotubes are already used in many common products, such as bicycle frames, automobile bodies, and tennis rackets. Potential health risks are relevant not only to those involved in manufacturing but also to the general public, and little research has been conducted to determine if risks to human health are created when products containing nanotubes are crushed or incinerated in a waste dump.