November 10, 2009
Nanotechnology Now - Breakthrough in industrial-scale nanotube processing
Rice University scientists today unveiled a method for the industrial-scale processing of pure carbon-nanotube fibers that could lead to revolutionary advances in materials science, power distribution and nanoelectronics. The result of a nine-year program, the method builds upon tried-and-true processes that chemical firms have used for decades to produce plastics. The research is available online in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.
“Plastics is a $300 billion U.S. industry because of the massive throughput that’s possible with fluid processing,” said Rice’s Matteo Pasquali, a paper co-author and professor in chemical and biomolecular engineering and in chemistry. “The reason grocery stores use plastic bags instead of paper and the reason polyester shirts are cheaper than cotton is that polymers can be melted or dissolved and processed as fluids by the train-car load. Processing nanotubes as fluids opens up all of the fluid-processing technology that has been developed for polymers.”
This article also appeared in the following outlet(s)
- Chennai Online
- PCB007
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