Abstract:
The present invention is directed to nanofiber yarns, ribbons, and sheets; to methods of making said yarns, ribbons, and sheets; and to applications of said yarns, ribbons, and sheets. In some embodiments, the nanotube yarns, ribbons, and sheets comprise carbon nanotubes. Particularly, such carbon nanotube yarns of the present invention provide unique properties and property combinations such as extreme toughness, resistance to failure at knots, high electrical and thermal conductivities, high absorption of energy that occurs reversibly, up to 13% strain-to-failure compared with the few percent strain-to-failure of other fibers with similar toughness, very high resistance to creep, retention of strength even when heated in air at 450° C. for one hour, and very high radiation and UV resistance, even when irradiated in air. Furthermore these nanotube yarns can be spun as one micron diameter yarns and plied at will to make two-fold, four-fold, and higher fold yarns. Additional embodiments provide for the spinning of nanofiber sheets having arbitrarily large widths. In still additional embodiments, the present invention is directed to applications and devices that utilize and/or comprise the nanofiber yarns, ribbons, and sheets of the present invention.
Abstract:
A nanofiber forest on a substrate can be patterned to produce a patterned assembly of nanofibers that can be drawn to form nanofiber sheets, ribbons, or yarns.
Abstract:
A device including an array of aligned conductive channels. The conductive channels are operable for directional transport of species selected from the group consisting of electrons, ions, phonons, and combinations thereof. The conductive channels are provided for by nanofibers in a form selected from the group consisting of ribbons, sheets, yarns, and combinations thereof.
Abstract:
Disclosed are methods for decapping single wall carbon nanotubes and purifying the decapped single wall carbon nanotubes. The disclosed methods include the steps of oxidizing the single wall carbon nanotubes to remove the terminal end cap and subsequently acid washing the single wall carbon nanotubes to remove the catalyst particles. The resulting carbon nanotubes have improved BET surface area and pore volume.
Abstract:
The present invention is directed to nanofiber yarns, ribbons, and sheets; to methods of making said yarns, ribbons, and sheets; and to applications of said yarns, ribbons, and sheets. In some embodiments, the nanotube yarns, ribbons, and sheets comprise carbon nanotubes. Particularly, such carbon nanotube yarns of the present invention provide unique properties and property combinations such as extreme toughness, resistance to failure at knots, high electrical and thermal conductivities, high absorption of energy that occurs reversibly, up to 13% strain-to-failure compared with the few percent strain-to-failure of other fibers with similar toughness, very high resistance to creep, retention of strength even when heated in air at 450° C. for one hour, and very high radiation and IJV resistance, even when irradiated in air. Furthermore these nanotube yarns can be spun as one micron diameter yarns and plied at will to make two-fold, four-fold, and higher fold yarns. Additional embodiments provide for the spinning of nanofiber sheets having arbitrarily large widths. In still additional embodiments, the present invention is directed to applications and devices that utilize and/or comprise the nanofiber yarns, ribbons, and sheets of the present invention.
Abstract:
Disclosed is a method for making graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) by controlled unzipping of structures such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by etching (e.g., argon plasma etching) of nanotubes partly embedded in a polymer film. The GNRs have smooth edges and a narrow width distribution (2-20 nm). Raman spectroscopy and electrical transport measurements reveal the high quality of the GNRs. Such a method of unzipping CNTs with well-defined structures in an array will allow the production of GNRs with controlled widths, edge structures, placement and alignment in a scalable fashion for device integration. GNRs may be formed from nanostructures in a controlled array to form arrays of parallel or overlapping structures. Also disclosed is a method in which the CNTs are in a predetermined pattern that is carried over and transferred to a substrate for forming into a semiconductor device.
Abstract:
Devices, compositions, and methods are described which provide a tubular nanostructure targeted to a lipid bilayer membrane. The targeted tubular nanostructure can have a surface region configured to pass through a lipid bilayer membrane of a cell, a hydrophobic surface region flanked by two hydrophilic surface regions configured to form a pore in a lipid bilayer membrane of a cellular organelle, and at least one ligand configured to bind one or more cognates on the lipid bilayer membrane of the cellular organelle. The target cell can be, for example, a tumor cell, an infected cell, or a diseased cell in a subject. The tubular nanostructure can form a pore in the lipid bilayer membrane of the cellular organelle, e.g., mitochondria, which can permit transit or translocation of at least one compound across the membrane and cause cell death of the target cell.
Abstract:
A method of separating, concentrating or purifying uniform carbon nanotubes with desired properties (diameter, chiral vector, etc) in a highly sensitive manner by the use of structure-sensitive properties peculiar to carbon nanotubes; and an apparatus therefor. There is provided a method of separating, concentrating, or purifying carbon nanotubes with the desired properties contained in a sample, comprising the steps of (a) irradiating a sample containing carbon nanotubes with light; and (b) selecting carbon nanotubes with desired properties. In a preferred embodiment, the light irradiation of the step (a) can be carried out in the presence of a metal so as to cause specified carbon nanotubes to selectively induce a photocatalytic reaction, resulting in metal deposition. Further, in a preferred embodiment, a given magnetic filed can be applied in the steps (b) so as to attain accumulation or concentration or carbon nanotubes with metal deposited.
Abstract:
This invention is directed to chemical derivatives of carbon nanotubes wherein the carbon nanotubes have a diameter up to 3 nm. In one embodiment, this invention also provides a method for preparing carbon nanotubes having substituents attached to the side wall of the nanotube by reacting single-wall carbon nanotubes with fluorine gas and recovering fluorine derivatized carbon nanotubes, then reacting fluorine derivatized carbon nanotubes with a nucleophile. Some of the fluorine substituents are replaced by nucleophilic substitution. If desired, the remaining fluorine can be completely or partially eliminated to produce carbon nanotubes having substituents attached to the side wall of the nanotube. The substituents are dependent on the nucleophile, and preferred nucleophiles include alkyl lithium species such as methyl lithium.
Abstract:
This invention relates generally to forming an array of fullerene nanotubes. In one embodiment, a macroscopic molecular array is provided comprising at least about 106 fullerene nanotubes in generally parallel orientation and having substantially similar lengths in the range of from about 5 to about 500 nanometers.