Researchers are a step closer to making renewable energy technologies with dynamic carbon nanotubes a cost effective reality. Researchers have made a breakthrough in developing a new method to reliably produce double-walled carbon nanotubes at a lower cost. The above image shows a visualization of the structure of carbon nanotubes. Photo Credit: Mark Hersam, Northwestern University

December 14, 2008, (Sawf News) - Researchers are a step closer to making renewable energy technologies with dynamic carbon nanotubes a cost effective reality. Researchers have made a breakthrough in developing a new method to reliably produce double-walled carbon nanotubes at a lower cost.

Double-sided carbon nanotubes are highly prized for their use in solar cells and other applications but until now, creating a supply of just double-sided carbon nanotubes -- instead of a mix of single- and multi-sided ones--was a challenge.

A team of researchers at Northwestern University has announced a breakthrough technique that allows the double-sided tubes to be efficiently separated from the other types.

In recent years, the possible applications for double-walled carbon nanotubes have excited scientists and engineers, particularly those working on developing renewable energy technologies. These tiny tubes, just two carbon atoms thick, are thin enough to be transparent, yet can still conduct electricity. This combination makes them well-suited for advanced solar panels, sensors and a host of other applications.

Up until now, the problem with double-walled carbon nanotubes has been being able to produce a homogeneous supply of them. When double-walled carbon nanotubes are synthesized, the process also creates many of the single- and multi-walled variety. Given their small size, sorting the valuable double-walled tubes from the other types has posed a real challenge.

In a paper published December 14 in the online edition of the journal Nature Nanotechnology, two researchers from Northwestern University outline a new process for efficiently gathering up these coveted double-walled carbon nanotubes.

Carbon nanotubes are about 10,000 times thinner than a human hair consisting of rolled up sheets of carbon hexagons.

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