Carbon nanotubes are 10,000 times thinner than a human hair, yet stronger than steel and more durable than diamonds. They conduct heat and electricity with efficiency that rivals copper wires and silicon chips, with possible uses in everything from concrete and clothes to bicycle parts and electronics. The have been hailed as the next “wonder material” for what could become a multi-billion dollar manufacturing industry in the 21st century.
But as useful as nanotubes may be, the process of making them may have unintentional and potentially harmful impacts on the environment. MIT/WHOI graduate student Desirée Plata and her mentors—chemists Phil Gschwend of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Chris Reddy of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution—recently analyzed ten commercially made carbon nanotubes to identify the chemical byproducts of the manufacturing process and to help track them in the environment.
Plata found that the ten different carbon nanotubes had vastly different compositions; most previous toxicity studies have generally assumed that all nanotubes are the same. This diversity of chemical signatures will make it harder to trace the impacts of carbon nanotubes in the environment
In previous work (first presented last fall), Plata and colleagues found that the process of nanotube manufacturing produced emissions of at least 15 aromatic hydrocarbons, including four different kinds of toxic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) similar to those found in cigarette smoke and automobile tailpipe emissions. They also found that the process was largely inefficient: much of the raw carbon went unconsumed and was vented into the atmosphere.
The new research by Plata et al was published April 3 on the web site of the journal Nanotechnology. In the next phase of Plata’s work, she will collect real-time data from a European nanotube manufacturing facility that is poised to let her set up the same monitors she used in the MIT lab.
“It is the indiscriminant use of poorly understood chemicals that causes environmental and public health costs,” Plata said. “We want to work proactively with the carbon nanotube industry to avoid repeating environmental mistakes of the past. Instead of reacting to problems, we hope to preclude them altogether.”
Plata was honored in February for her nanotube work by the Division of Environmental Chemistry of the American Chemical Society, which selected her as a winner of one of its 2008 Graduate Student Paper Awards.
Source: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Related stories:
Helping the carbon nanotube industry avoid mega-mistakes of the past
A new analysis of by-products discharged to the environment during production of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) — expected to become the basis of multibillion-dollar industries in the 21
st Century — has identified cancer-causing compounds, air pollutants, and other substances of concern, researchers reported here today at the 234
th national meeting of the American Chemical Society.
Mimicking gecko feet: Dry adhesive based on carbon nanotubes gets stronger
The race for the best "gecko foot" dry adhesive got a new competitor this week with a stronger and more practical material reported in the journal Science by a team of researchers from four U.S. institutions.
New material could speed development of hydrogen powered vehicles
Researchers in Greece report design of a new material that almost meets the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) 2010 goals for hydrogen storage and could help eliminate a key roadblock to practical hydrogen-powered vehicles. Their study on a way of safely storing hydrogen, an explosive gas, is scheduled for the Oct. 8 issue of ACS'
Nano Letters.
New study on properties of carbon nanotubes, water could have wide-ranging implications
A fresh discovery about the way water behaves inside carbon nanotubes could have implications in fields ranging from the function of ultra-tiny high-tech devices to scientists' understanding of biological processes, according to researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Nanoscale carbon materials research wins the 2008 Julius Springer Prize for Applied Physics
Dr. Phaedon Avouris of IBM and Professor Tony Heinz of Columbia University were presented with the 2008 Julius Springer Prize for Applied Physics on 27 September 2008 during a day-long forum at Harvard University, attended by luminaries of the field. The Julius Springer Prize for Applied Physics recognizes researchers who have made an outstanding and innovative contribution to the field of applied physics. The forum was sponsored by the scientific publisher Springer.
Breakthrough for carbon nanotube materials
(PhysOrg.com) -- In collaboration with scientists from the NanoTech Institute of the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) – CSIRO has achieved a major breakthrough in the development of a commercially-viable manufacturing process for a range of materials made from carbon nanotubes.
Tweezers Trap Nanotubes by Color
Singled-walled carbon nanotubes are graphene sheets wrapped into tubes, and are typically made up of various sizes and with different amounts of twist (also known as chiralities). Each type of nanotube has its own electronic and optical properties. Physicists at Osaka University in Japan used colored light to selectively manipulate different types of carbon nanotubes. They found that some of nanotubes displayed a tendency to cluster at the focal area of a focused laser beam.
Carbon nanostructures form the future of electronics and optoelectronics
This year's Julius Springer Prize for Applied Physics will be awarded to Phaedon Avouris and Tony Heinz for their pioneering work on the electrical and optical properties of nanoscale carbon materials including carbon nanotubes − from basic science to exciting applications. The award, accompanied by US$ 5,000, will be presented at the Julius Springer Forum on Applied Physics 2008 at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, on 27 September 2008.