Nanocables light way to the future—Rice researchers power line-voltage light bulb with nanotube wire

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.media.rice.edu/media/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=16123&SnID=935081149

9/6/2011

Media note: Links to a Rice-produced video and high-resolution photos for this story are available at the end of the news release. A high-definition, unedited version of the video is available.

David Ruth
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Jade Boyd
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Nanocables light way to the future

Rice researchers power line-voltage light bulb with nanotube wire

Cables made of carbon nanotubes are inching toward electrical conductivities seen in metal wires, and that may light up interest among a range of industries, according to Rice University researchers.

A Rice lab made such a cable from double-walled carbon nanotubes and powered a fluorescent light bulb at standard line voltage -- a true test of the novel material's ability to stake a claim in energy systems of the future.

The work appears this week in the Nature journal Scientific Reports.

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The cables developed in the study are spun from pristine nanotubes and can be tied together without losing their conductivity. To increase conductivity of the cables, the team doped them with iodine and the cables remained stable. The conductivity-to-weight ratio (called specific conductivity) beats metals, including copper and silver, and is second only to the metal with highest specific conductivity, sodium.

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Read the abstract at http://www.nature.com/srep/2011/110906/srep00083/full/srep00083.html

View a high-resolution video at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJw6JmZmdqE

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(Photos available at the link.)