Carbon nanotubes have attracted the fancy of many scientists worldwide. The small dimensions, strength and the remarkable physical properties of these structures make them a very unique material with a whole range of promising applications. In this review we describe some of the important materials science applications of carbon nanotubes. Specifically we discuss the electronic and electrochemical applications of nanotubes, nanotubes as mechanical reinforcements in high performance composites, nanotube-based field emitters, and their use as nanoprobes in metrology and biological and chemical investigations, and as templates for the creation of other nanostructures. Electronic properties and device applications of nanotubes are treated elsewhere in the book. The challenges that ensue in realizing some of these applications are also discussed from the point of view of manufacturing, processing, and cost considerations.
The discovery of fullerene provided exciting insights into carbon nanostructures and how architectures built from sp2 carbon units based on simple geometrical principles can result in new symmetries and structures that have fascinating and useful properties. Carbon nanotubes represent the most striking example. About a decade after their discovery [2], the new knowledge available in this field indicates that nanotubes may be used in a number of practical applications. There have been great improvements in synthesis techniques, which can now produce reasonably pure nanotubes in gram quantities. Studies of structure–topology–property relations in nanotubes have been strongly supported, and in some cases preceded, by theoretical modeling that has provided insights for experimentalists into new directions and has assisted the rapid expansion of this field. Quasi-one-dimensional carbon whiskers or nanotubes are perfectly straight tubules with diameters of nanometer size, and properties close to that of an ideal graphite fiber. Carbon nanotubes were discovered accidentally by Sumio Iijima in 1991, while studying the surfaces of graphite electrodes used in an electric arc discharge. His observation and analysis of the nanotube structure started a new direction in carbon research, which complemented the excitement and activities then prevalent in fullerene research. These tiny carbon tubes with incredible strength and fascinating electronic properties appear to be ready to overtake fullerenes in the race to the technological marketplace. It is the structure, topology and size of nanotubes that make their properties exciting compared to the parent, planar graphite-related structures, such as are for example found in carbon fibers. The uniqueness of the nanotube arises from its structure and the inherent subtlety in the structure, which is the helicity in the arrangement of the carbon atoms in hexagonal arrays on their surface honeycomb lattices. The helicity (local symmetry), along with the diameter (which determines the size of the repeating structural unit) introduces significant changes in the electronic density of states, and hence provides a unique electronic character for the nanotubes. These novel electronic properties create a range of fascinating electronic device applications and this subject matter is discussed briefly elsewhere in this volume, and has been the subject of discussion in earlier reviews. The other factor of importance in what determines the uniqueness in physical properties is topology, or the closed nature of individual nanotube shells; when individual layers are closed on to themselves, certain aspects of the anisotropic properties of graphite disappear, making the structure remarkably different from graphite. The combination of size, structure and topology endows nanotubes with important mechanical properties (e.g., high stability, strength and stiffness, combined with low density and elastic deformability) and with special surface properties (selectivity, surface chemistry), and the applications based on these properties form the central topic of this chapter. In addition to the helical lattice structure and closed topology, topological defects in nanotubes (five member Stone–Wales defects near the tube ends, aiding in their closure), akin to those found in the fullerenes structures, result in local perturbations to their electronic structure; for example, the ends or caps of the nanotubes are more metallic than the cylinders, due to the concentration of pentagonal defects. These defects also enhance the reactivity of tube ends, giving the possibility of opening the tubes, functionalizing the tube ends, and filling the tubes with foreign substances. The structure of nanotubes remains distinctly different from traditional carbon fibers that have been industrially used for several decades (e.g., as reinforcements in tennis rackets, airplane frame parts and batteries to name a few). Most importantly, nanotubes, for the first time represent the ideal, most perfect and ordered, carbon fiber, the structure of which is entirely known at the atomic level. It is this predictability that mainly distinguishes nanotubes from other carbon fibers and puts them along with molecular fullerene species in a special category of prototype materials. Among the nanotubes, two varieties, which differ in the arrangement of their graphene cylinders, share the limelight. Multi-Walled NanoTubes (MWNT), are collections of several concentric graphene cylinders and are larger structures compared to Single-Walled NanoTubes (SWNTs) which are individual cylinders.


By MSc Fatima Safaa Fahim