carbon nanotube

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

a cylindrical nanostructure formed by rolling a single layer of graphene — a hexagonal lattice of carbon atoms — into a seamless tube, with a diameter typically 1 to 10 nanometres and lengths ranging from nanometres to centimetres; single-walled carbon nanotubes consist of a single graphene cylinder, while multi-walled nanotubes consist of multiple concentric cylinders; CNTs possess extraordinary properties: tensile strength approximately 100 times that of steel at one-sixth the weight, electrical conductivity comparable to copper in metallic configurations, and thermal conductivity exceeding diamond; depending on the angle at which the graphene lattice is rolled — the chirality — a CNT can be either metallic or semiconducting, enabling transistors and other electronic devices; CNTs are used in composite materials, field emission displays, energy storage, and are candidate elements for post-silicon transistor architectures

Examples

• Carbon nanotube fibres woven into composite materials produce structures stronger than any conventional metal alloy.
• Semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes have been used to build transistors with switching speeds exceeding silicon devices.

Synonyms: CNT, nanotube