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Diamond Nanotubes Created

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the work-faster-to-get-my-space-elevator dept.

raxxy writes to tell us that researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne Nation Laboratory have taken the next step in nano development. Combining the process for 'growing' diamonds and the latest in carbon nanotubes has given birth to a diamond-nanotube composite. From the article: "Diamond has its drawbacks, however. Diamond is a brittle material and is normally not electrically conducting. Nanotubes, on the other hand, are incredibly strong and are also great electrical conductors, but harnessing these attributes into real materials has proved elusive. By integrating these two novel forms of carbon together at the nanoscale a new material is produced that combines the material properties of both diamond and nanotubes."

6 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. From TFA by woah · · Score: 2, Informative
    ...but harnessing these attributes into real materials has proved elusive.

    not so elusive it would seem.

  2. Re:You knew it was coming... (DUPE!) by oliverthered · · Score: 2, Informative

    Well if this is the same material that was reported about a week ago everywhere else (and probably /.) it's not strong enough for the space elevator (Aggregated diamond nanorods have a modulus of 491 gigapascals (GPa), compared with 442 GPa for conventional diamond.)

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  3. Re:You knew it was coming... by PsychicX · · Score: 2, Informative

    Just to give some background on what this is all about, here's an article on their predecessors, carbon nanotubes. Remember diamond is just a carbon matrix in a particular arrangement. Carbon nanotubes form sp2 bonds; presumably these diamond nanotubes form sp3 bonds, although it's not clear to me how you'd create a tube with that geometry.

  4. Re:Neal Stephenson by binarybum · · Score: 2, Informative

    err, no it's not. the refractive index is how you tell real diamonds from manufactured ones.

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    ôó
  5. Re:Neal Stephenson by WalksOnDirt · · Score: 2, Informative

    Manufactured diamonds are real diamonds, so they have the same refractive index, and density, as natural diamonds. The more usual term for them is synthetic diamonds, and they can be distinguished by their trace elements and by the nature of inclusions (flaws). For instance, high pressure synthetic diamonds have iron inclusions that are not found in natural diamonds.

    It is an open question whether the new vapor deposition diamonds will continue to be identified, though for now they can.

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  6. Why this technology is essential by nutznboltz · · Score: 2, Informative

    Existing transmission lines are a huge waste of energy. They hold back conversion from fossile fuels to solar and wind by limiting the distance electricity can be effectively sent. Copper is too soft and heavy so aluminum transmission lines are built but there is too much resistance so transmission distance is cut back.

    With nanotubes, near-superconducting transmission lines could be built which would enable cloudly areas to reap the benefits of solar electric power from deserts and wind power from the plains.

    References:
    http://smalley.rice.edu/ (see associated video lecture.)