Carbon nanotube-based cables carry four times the current of copper

While individual nanotubes are capable of transmitting nearly 1,000 times more current than copper, the same tubes coalesced into a fibre using other technologies fail long before reaching that capacity.

However, a series of tests at Rice showed that wet-spun carbon nanotube fibre out performed copper, carrying up to four times as much current as a copper wire of the same mass.

That, the researchers claim, makes nanotube-based cables an ideal platform for lightweight power transmission in systems where weight is a significant factor, such as in aerospace applications.

The analysis led by Rice professors Junichiro Kono and Matteo Pasquali have appeared in Advanced Functional Materials.

Present-day transmission cables made of copper or aluminium are heavy because their low tensile strength requires steel-core reinforcement.

The ideal cable would be made of long metallic ‘armchair’ nanotubes that would transmit current over great distances with negligible loss, but such a cable is not feasible because it’s not yet possible to manufacture pure ‘armchairs’ in bulk, Pasquali said in a statement.