In a paper published yesterday in Scientific Reports, researchers from Flinders and Curtin Universities, two universities in the USA and ANSTO, show for the first time how to cut carbon nanotubes in continuous flow, at a consistent length, without oxidisation and not using nasty chemicals.
The average length is 170 nanometres using only water and a solvent, a laser and a Vortex Fluidic Device, which is roughly the size of a domestic vacuum flask. The resultant particles were characterised by means of atomic-force microscopy and small-angle neutron scattering (using the Institute's QUOKKA small-angle neutron scattering machine).
This work has attracted media attention, and the full reference is K. Vimalanathan, J. R. Gascooke , I. Suarez-Martinez , N. A. Marks , H. Kumari , C. J. Garvey , J. L. Atwood , W. D. Lawrance and C. L. Raston, "Fluid dynamic lateral slicing of high tensile strength carbon nanotubes", Scientific Reports 6, 22865 (2016).
Published: 12/03/2016