CARBON NANO-TUBES
AN ADVANCED APPLICATION OF NANO-TECHNOLOGY
Author:-1
Debkumar Saha
3rd YR B.TECH
B.M.E
B.V.R.I.T
ABSTRACT
In the present world of development, technology is
growing at a tremendous pace making works easier,
faster, efficient, & compact. The introduction of
nano-technology has revolutionized the world of
science influencing each & every field. This paper
aims at highlighting the technology that is emerging
fast and is in latest use…nano carbon tubes ,a latest
advent of nano technology.
Carbon Nano-tubes are an allotrope of carbon. These
are a tubular material with a hexagonal honeycomb
structure of a carbon atom connected to other carbon
atoms. Carbon nano-tubes are known to have
Author:-2
M.Ramprakash
3rd YR B.TECH
B.M.E
B.V.R.I.T
excellent mechanical, electrically selective, high
efficient hydrogen storage properties and be new and
almost defect-free of all the existing materials.
Carbon nano-tubes are called a new dream material
in the 21st century and broadening their applications
to almost all the scientific areas, such as aerospace
science, bio-engineering, environmental energy,
materials industry, medical and medicine science,
electronic computer, security and safety, and science
education with the development of science.
This paper deals with the basics of nano carbon
tubes, history, their structures, different properties,
types, various processing techniques and an analysis
on these along with the perspective applications.
INTRODUCTION
As numerous researches has been reported on new
physical phenomena and advanced properties of
materials in the extremely infinitesimal areas of
nanoscale size in recent years, a new area called
nanotechnologies came into being. These
nanotechnologies have emerged as a future leader in
areas, such as electronic information
communications, medicine, material, production
process, environment, and energy.
As new material properties of carbon nano-tubes, in
particular, can be realized among other nano
technologies, both the importance in basic research
and industrial applicability are being in the great
limelight
HISTORY
Fullerene, one of carbon allotropes (a cluster of 60
carbon atoms: C60) was discovered by KROTO and
SMALLEY for the first time in 1985. Dr Sumio
Iijima, a researcher of the NEC laboratories in
JAPAN, in 1991 discovered thin and long straw
shaped carbon nano-tubes during a TEM analysis of
carbon clusters synthesized by arc-discharge method.
He found that the central core of the cathodic deposit
contained a variety of closed graphitic structures
including nano-particles and nano-tubes, of a type
which had never previously been observed. The
nano-tubes range in length from a few tens of
nanometers to several micrometers, and in outer
diameter from about 2.5 nm to 30 nm. A carbon atom
in nano-tubes forms a hexagonal honeycomb lattice
of sp2 bond with 3 other carbon atoms. In 1992,
Ebbesen and Ajayan reported that increasing the
pressure in the chamber of an arc-evaporation had
greatly improved the nano-tube yield on the cathode
of graphite. In the year 1993 Bethune of IBM and
Iijima of NEC independently synthesized carbon
nano-tubes, using arc-discharge methods. In the Year
1998 using the plasma-enhanced chemical vapor
deposition, a major breakthrough was made in
synthesis and application of carbon nano-tubes by
growing highly pure carbon nano-tubes vertically
aligned on a glass substrate. Since then, researches
into synthesis and application have been vigorously
conducted around the world.
STRUCTURE
A free carbon atom has the electronic structure
1s22s22p2. In order to form covalent bonds, one of the
2s electrons is promoted to 2p. In graphite, one
carbon atom forms a strong ¥ò bond called as sp2
with three other adjacent atoms in a plane. The others
in the p orbital have a weak ¥ð bond at 90o to this
plane which gives the semi-metal characteristics.
There are two possible high symmetry structures for
carbon nano-tubes, known as 'zig-zag' and 'armchair'.
In practice, it is believed that most carbon nano-tubes
do not have these highly symmetric forms but have
structures called 'chiral' in which the honeycomb-
shaped hexagons are arranged helically around the
tube axis. The simplest way of specifying the
structure of an individual tube is in terms of a vector,
which is labeled as C, joining two equivalent points PROPERTIES
on the original graphene lattice. The cylinder is  The strongest and most flexible molecular
produced by rolling up the sheet such that the two material because of C-C covalent bonding
end-points of the vector are superimposed. Fig 2. and seamless hexagonal network architecture.
Shows the graphene sheet labeled. Each pair of  Young’s modulus of over 1TPa vs. 70GPa for
integers (n, m) represents a possible tube structure in aluminum & 700GPa for C-fiber.
this image. Thus the vector C can be expressed as
 Maximum strain ~ 10% much higher than any
C = na1 + ma2
material.
Where a1 and a2 are the unit cell base vectors of the
 Thermal conductivity ~3000 W/mK in axial
graphene sheet. It can be seen that m = 0 for all zig-
direction with small values in the radial
zag tubes, while n = m for all armchair tubes. All
direction.
other tubes are 'chiral'. In the case of the two
 Electrical conductivity six orders higher than
'archetypal' nano-tubes which can be capped by one
copper.
half of a C60 molecule, the zig-zag tube is
 Can be metallic or chirality’s based on
represented by the integers (9, 0) while the armchair
1. The tunable band gap
tube is denoted by (5, 5). The chiral angle, ¥è, is
2.electrical properties can be tailored through
given by
application of external magnetic field,
¥è = sin-1{31/2m/2(n2+nm+m2)1/2}
application of mechanical deformation…..
 Very high current carrying capacity
 Excellent field emitter; higher aspect ratio
and a smaller tip radius of curvature which
are ideal for field emission.

TYPES

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs)

If nano-tubes are considered as a 'one-dimensional Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are

crystal', we can define a translational unit cell along nanometer-diameter cylinders consisting of a single

the tube axis. Unit cells for 'armchair' and 'zigzag' graphene sheet wrapped up to form a tube. Since

nano-tubes are shown in Fig. 3. For the armchair their discovery, there has been intense activity

tube, the width of the cell is equal to the magnitude exploring the electrical properties of these systems

of a, while for the zig-zag tube the width of the cell is and their potential applications in electronics. These

31/2a. Larger diameter armchair and zig-zag nano- tubes can be either metals or semiconductors, and

tubes have unit cells which are simply longer their electrical properties can rival, or even exceed,

versions of these. For chiral nanotubes, the lower the best metals or semiconductors known. The

symmetry results in larger unit cells. remarkable electrical properties of SWNTs stem
from the unusual electronic structure of the two-
dimensional material, graphene, from which they are
constructed [6, 7]. Graphene - a single atomic layer
of graphite - consists of a 2D honeycomb structure of
sp2 bonded carbon atoms. In an SWNT, the
momentum of the electrons moving around the
circumference of the tube is quantized, reducing the
available states to slices through the 2-D band
structure, this quantization results in tubes that are
either one-dimensional metals or semiconductors,
depending on how the allowed momentum states
compare to the preferred directions for conduction.
SINGLE WALL NANO-TUBE
Multiwalled nanotubes (MWNT)
Carbon multiwall nanotubes were first synthesized in
1983 by scientists at Hyperion Catalysis
International. Carbon multiwall nanotubes
(CMWNT) have been in commercial use as a
conductive additive for plastics only since the early
1990’s. These nano-tubes are approximately 10
nanometers in diameter and 10 microns long. They
are made by a continuous, catalyzed,
temperature gas phase reaction of low molecular
weight hydrocarbons. Current production using this
process is multiple tons, with the capability to readily
expand to meet demand. Carbon nanotubes have
proven to be an excellent additive to impart electrical
conductivity in plastics. Their high aspect ratio
(length divided by diameter) of 1000 means that a
very low loading is needed to form a percolating
mixture in a polymer compared to materials with
lower aspect ratios, such as carbon black, chopped
carbon fiber, or stainless steel fiber. Because of their
small size and low loading, nanotubes have less of an
effect on part surface quality. Carbon nano-tube-
filled plastics are being used in nylon 12 automotive
fuel. Because moving fuel can build up a static
charge, the fuel line needs to be conductive enough
to bleed off the charge. The low loading of CMWNT
preserves more of the tensile elongation of the resin
and reduces the chance of a fuel line rupture in a low
temperature accident.
Carbon multiwall nanotubes are a relatively new
additive for plastics. They are being successfully
used commercially as a conductive additive and may
be a new, non-halogenated flame retardant that is
effective in low loadings.
FULLERITES
high
A new super hard material composed of polymerized
single wall carbon nanotubes (P-SWNT) has been
synthesized which exhibits a bulk modulus exceeding
or comparable with diamond. Polymerized SWNT
(P-SWNT) via sp3 inter-tube bonding are expected to
have highly anisotropic mechanical and electrical 2. Laser vaporization
(metallic and semiconductor) properties while A laser is used to vaporize a graphite target in an
exhibiting super hard material characteristics. oven at 1200 oC. Then helium or argon gas is filled
Polymerization of nanotubes is possible by analogy to keep the pressure in the oven at 500 Torr. Carbon
with ultra hard fullerite, since the nanotube is a clusters from the graphite target are cooled,
graphite sheet curved into a cylinder, while fullerene adsorbed, and condensed on the Cu collector at a low
is that curved to sphere. temperature. The condensates obtained this way are
mixed with carbon nanotubes and nanoparticles.

Carbon nano-tube synthesis MWNT would be synthesized in the case of a pure

graphite, but uniform SWNT could be synthesized if
1. Arc-discharge
a graphite of a mixture of Co, Ni, Fe, Y were used
Arc-discharge is a method which was usually used in
instead of a pure graphite. SWNTs synthesized this
synthesis of carbon nanotubes in the early stage. Two
way exist as 'ropes'.
graphite rods are used as the cathode and anode,
between which arcing occurs when DC voltage
power is supplied. Large quantities of electrons from
the arc-discharge move to the anode and collide into
the anodic rod. Carbon clusters from the anodic
graphite rod caused by the collision are cooled to low
temperature and condensed on the surface of the
cathodic graphite rod. The graphite deposits
condensed on the cathode contain both carbon
nanotubes, nanoparticles, and clusters. The graphite
clusters synthesized in these initial experiments
contained a very small amount of carbon nanotubes,
3. Thermal Chemical Vapor Deposition
but modifications to the procedure later have enabled
Thermal CVD has advantages of variety in products
greatly improved the yield.
and hydrocarbon sources, adequacy for synthesis of
high quality materials, and controllability of
microscopic structures. The synthesis method of
carbon nanotubes using thermal chemical vapor
deposition is as follows. Fe, Ni, Co, or alloy of the
tree catalytic metals is initially deposited on a
substrate. After the substrate is etched in diluted HF
solution with distilled water, the specimen is placed
in a quartz boat. The boat is positioned in a CVD
reaction furnace, and nano-size fine catalytic metal
particles are formed after an additional etching of the
catalytic metal film using NH3 gas at a temperature
in 750 to 1050oC. As carbon nanotubes are grown on
these fine catalytic metal particles in CVD synthesis,
forming these fine catalytic metal particles is the
most important process.
4. Vapor Phase Growth
Most synthesis methods of carbon nanotubes are
carried out by deposition of catalytic metals on a
substrate using conventional gas, such as C2H2, CH4,
C2H4, and C2H6. However, vapor phase growth is a
synthesis method of carbon nanotubes, directly
supplying reaction gas and catalytic metal in the
chamber without a substrate. It has been suggested as
a good method for mass production. A mass flow
controller is placed in one corner and a boat for
catalytic metal powder in the chamber. The chamber
is composed of two stage furnaces. Relatively low
temperature is kept in the first furnace while higher
temperature is maintained in the hot second furnace
where the synthesis occurs. When fine catalytic
particles vaporized from metal powder in the low
temperature area reach the second furnace,
decomposed carbons in the hot second area are
adsorbed, diffused to catalytic metal particles, and
synthesized as carbon nano-tubes.
5. Electrolysis
MWNTs are synthesized using this method which
involves the electrolysis of molten lithium chloride
using a graphite cell in which the anode was a
graphite crucible. The temperature of the graphite
crucible is approximately 600 oC in the Ar
atmosphere. MWNTs with 2-10 nm in diameter and
0.5 § or more in length are synthesized when DC
power at less than 3-20A and 20 V is applied.
Amorphous carbons and encapsulated CNTs are
synthesized as by-products.
6. Flame synthesis
In this method, combustion heat is a heating source
of carbon nanotubes produced from combustion of
CH4 in the small amount of oxygen atmosphere.
MWNTs and SWNTs are synthesized by flowing
hydrocarbon source like C2H2 and catalytic
precursors in the diffusion flame atmosphere. As the
temperature range of 600-1300 oC is not uniform in
the Flame atmosphere, the tubes contain a great
amount of amorphous carbons and show poor
crystallinity. It facilitates mass production and is
promising in the application to electrolytic materials.
APPLICATIONS AND USES
Since discovering them more than a decade ago,
scientists have been exploring possible uses for
carbon nanotubes, which exhibit electrical
conductivity as high as copper, thermal conductivity
as high as diamond, and as much as 100 times the
strength of steel at one-sixth the weight. In order to
capitalize on these properties, researchers and
engineers need a set of tools -- in this case, chemical
processes like pyrolytic fluorination -- that will allow
them to cut, sort, dissolve and otherwise manipulate
nanotubes.
Molecular and Nanotubes Memories
Nanotubes hold promise for non-volatile
memory; with a commercial prototype nanotubes-
based RAM predicted in 1-2 years, and terabit
capacity memories ultimately possible. Similar
promises have been made of molecular memory from
several companies, with one projecting a low-cost
memory based on molecule-sized cylinders by end
2004 that will have capacities appropriate for the
flash memory market. These approaches offer non-
volatile memory and if the predicted capacities of up
to 1Tb can be achieved at appropriate cost then hard
drives may no longer be necessary in PCs.
Laser applications heat up for carbon nano-
tubes:-Carbon nanotubes---tiny cylinders made of
carbon atoms---conduct heat hundreds of times better
than today's detector coating materials. Nanotubes
are also resistant to laser damage and, because of
their texture and crystal properties, absorb light
efficiently.
Nanoelectronics:-Nanotubes are either conducting
or semi-conducting depending upon their structure
(or their 'twist') so they could be very useful in
electronic circuitry. Nanotubes Ropes/Fibers: These
have great potential if the SWNT's can be made
slightly longer they have the potential to become the
next generation of carbon fibers. Carbon nanotubes
additionally can also be used to produce nanowires of
other chemicals, such as gold or zinc oxide. These
nanowires in turn can be used to cast nanotubes of
other chemicals, such as gallium nitride. These can
have very different properties from CNTs - for
example, gallium nitride nanotubes are hydrophilic,
while CNTs are hydrophobic, giving them possible
uses in organic chemistry that CNTs could not be
used for.
Display Technologies:- Nanomaterials will help
extend the range of ways in which we display
information. Several groups are promising consumer
flat screens based on nanotubes by the end of 2003 or
shortly after (Carbon nanotubes are excellent field
emitters). E-paper is another much heralded
application and nanoparticles figure in several
approaches being investigated, some of which
promise limited commercialization in the next year
or two. Soft lithography is another technology being
applied in this area.
Light Emitting Polymer Technology
Light Emitting Polymer technology is leading to
a new class of flat panel displays. Researchers have
discovered that Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) could
be made from polymers as well as from traditional
semiconductors. It was found that the polymer poly
p-phenylenevinylene (PPV) emitted yellow-green
light when sandwiched between a pair of electrodes.
Initially this proved to be of little practical value as it
produced an efficiency of less than 0.01%. However,
by changing the chemical composition of the
polymer and the structure of the device, an efficiency
of 5% was achieved, bringing it well into the range
of conventional LEDs.
Some Amazing facts and Applications
• Carbon Nanotubes possess many unique and
remarkable properties (chemical, physical,
and mechanical), which make them desirable
for many applications. The slender
proportions of carbon nanotubes hide a
staggering strength: it is estimated that they
are 100 times stronger than steel at only one
sixth of the weight - almost certainly the
strongest fibres that will ever be made out of
anything - strong enough even to build an
elevator to space. In addition they conduct
electricity better than copper and transmit
heat better than diamond.
• Enhancements in miniaturization, speed and
power consumption, size reduction of
information processing devices, memory
storage devices and flat displays for
visualization are currently being developed
• The most immediate application for
nanotubes is in making strong, lightweight
 materials. It will be possible to build a car
that is lighter than its human driver, yet
strong enough to survive a collision with a
tank
• Aircraft built with stronger and lighter
materials will have longer life spans and will
fly at higher temperatures, faster and more
efficiently.
• Nanotubes are being explored as receptacles -
storage tanks - for hydrogen molecules to be
used in the fuel cell that could power
automobiles of the future. Hydrogen does not
produce pollution or greenhouse emissions
when burned and is considered to be the clean
energy of the future.
FUTURE APPLICATIONS
Apart from the above mentioned fields the carbon
nano-tubes can also be used in other various
fields in future such as...
• Nanotube actuator
• Molecular Quantum wires
• Hydrogen Storage
• Noble radioactive gas storage
• Solar storage
• Waste recycling
• Electromagnetic shielding
• Dialysis Filters
• Thermal protection
• Nanotube reinforced composites
• Reinforcement of armour and other materials
• Reinforcement of polymer
• Avionics
• Collision-protection materials
• Fly wheels Artificial muscles
• Super capacitors
• Batteries
• Field emission flat panel displays
• Field Effect transistors and Single electron
CONCLUSION
As carbon nanotubes have various physical
properties and are an important material which can
be broadly used for various advanced industries such
as electronic and information technology in the 21st
century, they are globally in the limelight.
We have seen the different aspects of carbon nano-
tubes ranging from their structure, types,
manufacturing techniques & the different
applications. The range of applications the carbon
nano-tubes are used in, itself depicts their effect in
revolutionizing the field of science and technology.
They have paved the way for miniaturizing the
present technological systems providing greater
strength, flexibility, agility, conductivity [electric &
thermal] in a wide range of applications in different
fields. They hold the future of science enhancing the
lives of people in every possible manner.
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