Ceramic “antennae” to improve performance of gas turbines

There are few places with conditions more demanding than the interior of a gas turbine. The components inside jet engines and electricity generating turbines have to withstand extremely high temperatures, fast flows of gases, corrosive atmosphere and high angular velocities, with all the stresses this implies. One of the major research areas for material scientists since the 1950s has been to identify materials that can operate under these conditions. The Purdue team has developed a ceramic coating which, they claim, could make a significant contribution towards higher performance turbines.

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Ceramic coatings are standard inside the hottest part of turbines; for example, they coat the turbine blades that bear the brunt of the high temperatures, protecting the nickel alloy that forms the blade structure and allowing it to operate above the melting point of the metal. But although these coatings are vital for the structural stability of the blade, they do not actually control how the blade radiates heat, which compromises the performance and efficiency of the turbine. The Purdue team, led by electrical and computing engineer Zubin Jacob, describes in Nano Letters how they developed and built a coating comprised of ceramic nanotubes which act as thermal antennae, controlling both the direction and the electromagnetic spectrum of heat radiation.