Predictable nanotube structures point to silicon replacement

‘We are solving a fundamental problem of the carbon nanotube,’ said Chongwu Zhou, professor in the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and corresponding author of the study published August 23 in the journal Nano Letters. ‘To be able to control the atomic structure, or chirality, of nanotubes has basically been…a dream in the nanotube field.’

Carbon nanotubes have shown promise in applications ranging from optics, energy storage and touch screens. It is claimed that this research discovery on how to control the atomic structure of nanotubes will pave the way for computers that are smaller, faster and more energy efficient than those reliant on silicon transistors.

‘We are now working on scale up the process,’ Zhou said in a statement. ‘Our method can revolutionise the field and significantly push forward the real applications of nanotube in many fields.’

Until now, scientists were unable to ‘grow’ carbon nanotubes with specific attributes — such as metallic rather than semiconducting — instead getting mixed, random batches and then sorting them. The sorting process also shortened the nanotubes significantly, making the material less practical for many applications.