Advantages of Carbon Nanotubes
Carbon nanotubes are a remarkable technology with new applications for them being discovered daily. They have several advantages over today's silicon chips: they are far smaller, operate at faster speeds and generate much less heat. They have exceptional strength and electrical conductivity. Their unique capillary-style tube structure makes them ideal for energy storage and transmission. Their ability to hold hydrogen gas inside them and pass it to other components in a fuel cell offers truly sci-fi implications for the future of renewable energy.
The extremely high surface area of carbon nanotubes (for SWNTs each atom has two surfaces, the inside and outside) combined with their ability to attach essentially any chemical species after surface modification allows them to serve as unique catalyst supports and chemical sensors. They also have very high thermal conductivity - a factor of five higher than copper!
One of the biggest challenges with using carbon nanotubes is their solubility in common solvents like water. Making them soluble will allow for easier separation and purification and will enable the use of these amazing materials in a wide range of applications.
For example, they can be woven into fabrics without changing their feel and appearance. This would be possible for exercise shirts that monitor heart rate, hospital garments that record patient data and even casualwear that can track long-term health trends. By incorporating conductive pathways and 'circuits' into these fabrics, we can create wearable computers that are capable of transmitting health information to a smartphone or other device.
