Project Guide : HOD:

Asst.Prof.B G Chandru Dr. Kori Nagaraj

General Fact
Graphite vs. Diamonds
What's the difference between graphite
and diamonds? Both materials are
made of carbon, but both have vastly
different properties. Graphite is soft;
diamonds are hard. Graphite conducts
electricity, but diamonds are insulators
and can't conduct electricity. Graphite is
opaque; diamonds are usually
transparent. Graphite and diamonds
have these properties because of the
way the carbon atoms bond together at
the nanoscale.
What are Carbon nanotubes
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are allotropes
of carbon. These cylindrical carbon
molecules have interesting properties that
make them potentially useful in many
applications in nanotechnology,
electronics, optics and other fields of
materials science, as well as potential uses
in architectural fields. They exhibit
extraordinary strength and unique
electrical properties, and are efficient
conductors of heat. Their final usage,
however, may be limited by their potential
toxicity.
A carbon nanotube is a Nano-size cylinder of carbon atoms.
Imagine a sheet of carbon atoms, which would look like a sheet of
hexagons. If you roll that sheet into a tube, you'd have a carbon nanotube.
Carbon nanotube properties depend on how you roll the sheet.
In other words, even though all carbon nanotubes are made of carbon,
they can be very different from one another based on how you align the
individual atoms.
With the right arrangement of atoms, you can create a carbon nanotube
that's hundreds of times stronger than steel, but six times lighter
Engineers plan to make building material out of carbon nanotubes,
particularly for things like cars and airplanes.
Lighter vehicles would mean better fuel efficiency, and the added strength
translates to increased passenger safety.
Carbon nanotubes can also be effective semiconductors with the right
arrangement of atoms.
Scientists are still working on finding ways to make carbon nanotubes a
realistic option for transistors in microprocessors and other electronics.
 Carbon Nanotube
• Discovered in 1991 by Lijima
• It has Unique material properties
• They are nearly One-dimensional
structures
• There are two types Single-walled and
Multi-walled
Roll a Graphene sheet in a certain direction:
• Armchair structure
• Zigzag structure
• Chiral structure
• Single-walled carbon nanotubes exist in a variety of
structures corresponding to the many ways a sheet of
Graphene can be wrapped into a seamless tube.
• Each structure has a Wrapping Angle.
Rolling a graphene sheet to get SWNT
• The “armchair” structures, with a = 30°, have metallic
character
T2,
• The “zigzag” tubes, for which a = 0°, can be either
semimetallic or semiconducting, depending on the specific
diameter.
• Nanotubes with chiral angles intermediate between 0 and 30° include both
semimetals and semiconductors. (“Armchair” and “zigzag” refer to the pattern of
carbon–carbonbonds along a tube’s circumference.)
 How CNTs are made
•Arc discharge
–CNTs Can be found in the carbon soot of graphite
electrodes during an arc discharge involving high current.
This process yields CNTs with lengths up to 50 microns.
•Laser Ablation
–In the laser ablation process, a pulsed laser vaporizes a
graphite target in a high-temperature reactor while an inert
gas is inserted into the reactor. Nanotubes develop on the
cooler surfaces of the reactor as the vaporized carbon
condenses.
Other methods where CNTs are created:
- Chemical Vapor Decomposition
- Natural, incidental, and controlled flame environments
 Properties
Strength
Electrical
Thermal
Defects
One-Dimensional Transport
Toxicity

Strength Properties
 Carbon nanotubes have the strongest tensile strength of any material known.
 It also has the highest modulus of elasticity.

Electrical Properties
 If the nanotube structure is armchair then the electrical properties are
metallic.
 If he nanotube structure is chiral then the electrical properties can be either
semiconducting with a very small band gap, otherwise the nanotube is a
moderate semiconductor.
In theory, metallic nanotubes can carry an electrical current density of 4×109
A/cm2 which is more than 1,000 times greater than metals such as copper.
Thermal Properties
•All nanotubes are expected to be very good thermal conductors along the tube,
but good insulators laterally to the tube axis.

•It is predicted that carbon nanotubes will be able to transmit up to 6000 watts per
meter per Kelvin at room temperature; compare this to copper, a metal well-known
for its good thermal conductivity, which transmits 385 watts per meter per K.

•The temperature stability of carbon nanotubes is estimated to be up to 2800oC in

vacuum and about 750oC in air.
Defects
•Defects can occur in the form of atomic
vacancies. High levels of such defects can
lower the tensile strength by up to 85%.

•Because of the very small structure of

CNTs, the tensile strength of the tube is
dependent on its weakest segment in a
similar manner to a chain, where the
strength of the weakest link becomes the
maximum strength of the chain.

One-Dimensional Transport
Due to their nanoscale dimensions, electron transport
in carbon nanotubes will take place through quantum
effects and will only propagate along the axis of the
tube. Because of this special transport property, carbon
nanotubes are frequently referred to as “one-
dimensional.
Single-walled carbon nanotube structure:
Single-walled carbon nanotubes can be formed in three different designs:
Armchair, Chiral, and Zigzag. The design depends on the way the graphene is
wrapped into a cylinder. For example, imagine rolling a sheet of paper from its
corner, which can be considered one design, and a different design can be formed
by rolling the paper from its edge. A single-walled nanotube’s structure is
represented by a pair of indices (n,m) called the chiral vector. The chiral vector is
defined in the image below
The structural design has a direct effect on
the nanotube’s electrical properties. When
n − m is a multiple of 3, then the nanotube
is described as "metallic" (highly
conducting), otherwise the nanotube is a
semiconductor. The Armchair design is
always metallic while other designs can
make the nanotube a semiconductor.
Multi-walled carbon nanotube structure:
There are two structural models of multi-walled nanotubes. In the Russian Doll
model, a carbon nanotube contains another nanotube inside it (the inner
nanotube has a smaller diameter than the outer nanotube). In the Parchment
model, a single graphene sheet is rolled around itself multiple times, resembling
a rolled up scroll of paper. Multi-walled carbon nanotubes have similar
properties to single walled nanotubes, yet the outer walls on multi-walled
nanotubes can protect the inner carbon nanotubes from chemical interactions
with outside materials. Multi-walled nanotubes also have a higher tensile
strength than single-walled nanotubes.

Special properties:

• Difference in chemical reactivity for

end caps and side wall
• High axial mechanical strength
• Special electrical properties:
• Metallic
• Semi conducting
Properties of nanotubes:
• CNTs have High Electrical Conductivity
• CNTs have Very High Tensile Strength
• CNT are Highly Flexible- can be bent considerably without damage
• CNTs are Very Elastic ~18% elongation to failure
• CNTs have High Thermal Conductivity
• CNTs have a Low Thermal Expansion Coefficient
• CNTs are Good Electron Field Emitters
• CNTs have a High Aspect Ratio (length = ~1000 x diameter).

Purification:
• Contaminants:
• Catalyst particles
• Carbon clusters
• Smaller fullerenes: C60 / C70

Demerits in purification of Nanotubes:

• Completely retain nanotube structure
• Single-step purification
• Only possible on very small scale:
• Isolation of either semi-conducting SWNTs
Purification techniques:
• Removal of catalyst:
• Acidic treatment (+ sonication)
• Thermal oxidation
• Magnetic separation (Fe)

• Removal of small fullerenes:

• Micro filtration
• Extraction with CS2
• Removal of other carbonaceous impurities:
• Thermal oxidation
• Selective functionalisation of nanotubes
• Annealing
Applications:
• Thermal Conductivity of CNTs
• Field Emission of CNTs
• Conductive Plastics with CNTs
• Energy Storage using CNTs
• Conductive Adhesives and Connectors with CNTs
• Molecular Electronics based on CNTs
• Thermal Materials with CNTs
• Structural Composites with CNTs
• Fibers and Fabrics with CNTs
• Catalyst Supports using CNTs
• Biomedical Applications of CNTs
• Air and Water Filtration using CNTs
• Ceramic Applications with CNTs

Advantages and Disadvantages of CNTs

Carbon nanotubes are a great piece of technology and new
uses for them are being found every day. However they do
have their draw backs.
Advantages:
 Extremely small and lightweight, making them excellent replacement for
metallic wires
 Resources required to produce them are plentiful, and many can be made
with only a small amount of material
 Are resistant to temperature charges, meaning they function almost just
well in extreme cold as they do in extreme heat
 Have been in the R&D phase for a long time now, meaning most of the
kinks have to been worked out
 As a new technology investors have been piling into these R&D companies,
which will boost the economy

Disadvantages:
 Despite all the research, scientists still do not understand exactly how they
work
 Extremely small, so are difficult work with
 Currently, the process is relatively expensive to produce the nanotubes
 Would be expensive to implement the new technology in and replace the
order technology in all the places that we would
 At the rate our technology has been becoming obsolete, it may be gamble to
bet on this technology.
 REFERENCE

EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG/WIKI/CARBONNANOTUBES
WWW.SCIENCEDAILY.COM
HOW STUFF WORKS – WWW.HOWSTUFFWORKS.COM
IMAGES.GOOGLE.CO.IN/IMAGES
WWW.UNDERSTANDINGNANO.COM/NANOTUBES-CARBON.HTML
WWW.NANOCYL.COM › CNT EXPERTISE CENTRE
WWW.PA.MSU.EDU/CMP/CSC/NANOTUBE.HTML