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Dr. Baughman, who said the university and a collaborating Australian national lab have filed a provisional patent application to cover the technology, rattled off a slew of ideas, many with military applications.
"You would like to have blankets that could be unfurled in the desert to harvest energy for soldiers," he said. The nanotube sheets, unlike other materials that collect solar energy, still collect electricity when bent or creased.
Clothing made of cross-woven nanotube ribbons could make strong yet light protective gear, possibly even strong enough to repel a bullet.
The scientists have already shown that one of the nanotube sheets, sandwiched between two pieces of Plexiglas and microwaved, can weld the Plexiglas together. Transparent devices, such as a car window, could be created this way with a nanotube-based antenna or heating element inside.
The nanotube sheets could also be used as electrodes for light-emitting displays, such as those found on clock radios.
Engineers have also dreamed of ultra lightweight sails for space travel. Light from the sun could push on these sails, powering space vehicles.
Such a sheet, Dr. Baughman said, has to maintain the stress of light pushing on it but can't be too heavy. A sail measuring about one-third of a square mile would weigh only 66 pounds.
"How do you make sheets that are thin enough and strong enough?" Dr. Baughman said. "These carbon nanotube sheets seem to fit the bill."
Work left to do
Some tweaking of the nanotube sheet technology is still needed, Dr. Baughman said. The sheets created so far are made of multi-walled nanotubes, tubes nested inside each other like Russian dolls. Single-walled nanotubes, which are harder to grow as forests, are more desirable for some applications, such as conducting electricity. But there's no reason to doubt they could be pulled into sheets, Dr. Baughman said.
The UTD researchers, along with researchers at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital in Children in Dallas, are exploring whether the nanotube sheets could be useful in medicine. Mario Romero, a neurobiologist at Scottish Rite, said he's found that several types of cells can grow on the sheets. The sheets could be useful for measuring electrical and chemical properties of cells, or possibly in tissue engineering.
Other scientists who participated in the research were UTD's Mei Zhang, Shaoli Fang, Anvar Zakhidov, Sergey Lee, Ali Aliev and Christopher Williams. Ken Atkinson from a national laboratory in Victoria, Australia, also contributed.
E-mail sgoetinck@dallasnews.com
THE PROMISE OF NANOTECHNOLOGY
Scientists have known for a while that tiny carbon nanotubes have exceptional properties. But now, researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas have been able to easily convert the nanotubes into a more versatile form. A host of high-tech applications are possible:
Clothes or blankets that could store energy and blunt bullets
Car doors strong enough to protect passengers and double as batteries
Ultra-lightweight solar sails that could propel space vehicles.
Dr. Baughman, who said the university and a collaborating Australian national lab have filed a provisional patent application to cover the technology, rattled off a slew of ideas, many with military applications.
"You would like to have blankets that could be unfurled in the desert to harvest energy for soldiers," he said. The nanotube sheets, unlike other materials that collect solar energy, still collect electricity when bent or creased.
Clothing made of cross-woven nanotube ribbons could make strong yet light protective gear, possibly even strong enough to repel a bullet.
The scientists have already shown that one of the nanotube sheets, sandwiched between two pieces of Plexiglas and microwaved, can weld the Plexiglas together. Transparent devices, such as a car window, could be created this way with a nanotube-based antenna or heating element inside.
The nanotube sheets could also be used as electrodes for light-emitting displays, such as those found on clock radios.
Engineers have also dreamed of ultra lightweight sails for space travel. Light from the sun could push on these sails, powering space vehicles.
Such a sheet, Dr. Baughman said, has to maintain the stress of light pushing on it but can't be too heavy. A sail measuring about one-third of a square mile would weigh only 66 pounds.
"How do you make sheets that are thin enough and strong enough?" Dr. Baughman said. "These carbon nanotube sheets seem to fit the bill."
Work left to do
Some tweaking of the nanotube sheet technology is still needed, Dr. Baughman said. The sheets created so far are made of multi-walled nanotubes, tubes nested inside each other like Russian dolls. Single-walled nanotubes, which are harder to grow as forests, are more desirable for some applications, such as conducting electricity. But there's no reason to doubt they could be pulled into sheets, Dr. Baughman said.
The UTD researchers, along with researchers at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital in Children in Dallas, are exploring whether the nanotube sheets could be useful in medicine. Mario Romero, a neurobiologist at Scottish Rite, said he's found that several types of cells can grow on the sheets. The sheets could be useful for measuring electrical and chemical properties of cells, or possibly in tissue engineering.
Other scientists who participated in the research were UTD's Mei Zhang, Shaoli Fang, Anvar Zakhidov, Sergey Lee, Ali Aliev and Christopher Williams. Ken Atkinson from a national laboratory in Victoria, Australia, also contributed.
E-mail sgoetinck@dallasnews.com
THE PROMISE OF NANOTECHNOLOGY
Scientists have known for a while that tiny carbon nanotubes have exceptional properties. But now, researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas have been able to easily convert the nanotubes into a more versatile form. A host of high-tech applications are possible:
Clothes or blankets that could store energy and blunt bullets
Car doors strong enough to protect passengers and double as batteries
Ultra-lightweight solar sails that could propel space vehicles.
