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Unzipping Nanotubes Makes Superfast Electronics

Al writes "Two research groups have found a way to unzip carbon nanotubes to create nanoribbons of graphene — a material that has shown great promise for use as nanoscale transistors, but which has proven difficult to manufacture previously. A team led by James Tour, a professor of chemistry and computer science at Rice University, and another led by Hongjie Dai, a professor of chemistry at Stanford University, both figured out ways to slice carbon nanotubes open to create the nanoribbons. The Stanford team was funded by Intel, and the Rice group is in talks with several companies about commercializing their approach."

6 of 64 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Anyone... by poena.dare · · Score: 5, Funny

    Nanoribboned for her pleasure.

  2. Re:My chemistry is old but... by Fwipp · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yes, but it isn't obvious that it is feasible to do that.

  3. Now for the application by elashish14 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So now we have a method to bulk-produce graphene; but do we have a way to implement it in devices?

    In any case, this is good. Nanowire diameter shouldn't be that hard to manipulate. The more you can manipulate something in synthesis for functional properties, the better it is for application. Look at doping silicon for example.

    In any case, I wonder what the lifetime of a graphene-based device would be. Molecular compounds aren't always the most stable. That's one of the main reasons that they are being held back from adoption.

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  4. A simpler answer by bigsteve@dstc · · Score: 5, Funny
    Picture:

    ... a factory in some third world country, where the workers slit open the nanotubes with very small scissors.

    ... or a factory in some third world country, where very small workers slit open the nanotubes ...

    ... or a very small factory in some third world country ...

    ... or ...

  5. Re:Anyone... by DittoBox · · Score: 5, Funny

    [mage] what should I give sister for unzipping?
    [Kevyn] Um. Ten bucks?
    [mage] no I mean like, WinZip?

    -Bash.org

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  6. Re:What are "ribbens"? by Alotau · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...he's just making up new words on the fly.

    With all the unzipping going on, making up words on the fly is probably OK in this instance.