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nanotubes

MIT showcases ‘blackest black’ material to date

September 18, 2019 by David Edwards

MIT has been showcasing what it describes as “the blackest black material to date”, at a time when BMW has unveiled a new car coated with what the automaker also claims is “the world’s blackest black” material. 

However, MIT claims that its material is “10 times blacker than anything that has previously been reported”.

Although the university does not specifically mention “Vantablack” – which is the name of the black nano-material used by BMW for its X6 prototype – its emphatic claim would suggest that Vantablack is included in its considerations.

The MIT material is made from vertically aligned carbon nanotubes, or CNTs – microscopic filaments of carbon, like a fuzzy forest of tiny trees, that the team grew on a surface of chlorine-etched aluminum foil.

The foil captures at least 99.995 percent of any incoming light, making it the blackest material on record.

Brian Wardle, professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT, says: “Our material is 10 times blacker than anything that’s ever been reported, but I think the blackest black is a constantly moving target.

“Someone will find a blacker material, and eventually we’ll understand all the underlying mechanisms, and will be able to properly engineer the ultimate black.”

Wardle collaborated with Diemut Strebe, an artist-in-residence at the MIT Center for Art, Science, and Technology, on an exhibition to demonstrate the features of the new black nano-material.

The exhibition – entitled The Redemption of Vanity – features a 16.78-carat natural yellow diamond from LJ West Diamonds, estimated to be worth $2 million, which the team coated with the new, ultrablack CNT material.

The effect is that gem, normally brilliantly faceted, appears as a flat, black void. (See main picture.)

Wardle’s co-author on the paper about the MIT black nano-material is Kehang Cui, who says the team had some difficulties in developing the new black.

The group was using salt and other pantry products, such as baking soda and detergent, to grow carbon nanotubes.

In their tests with salt, Cui noticed that chloride ions were eating away at aluminum’s surface and dissolving its oxide layer.

Cui says: “This etching process is common for many metals.

“For instance, ships suffer from corrosion of chlorine-based ocean water. Now we’re using this process to our advantage.”

Cui found that if he soaked aluminum foil in saltwater, he could remove the oxide layer.

He then transferred the foil to an oxygen-free environment to prevent reoxidation, and finally, placed the etched aluminum in an oven, where the group carried out techniques to grow carbon nanotubes via a process called chemical vapor deposition.

By removing the oxide layer, the researchers were able to grow carbon nanotubes on aluminum, at much lower temperatures than they otherwise would, by about 100 degrees Celsius.

They also saw that the combination of CNTs on aluminum significantly enhanced the material’s thermal and electrical properties – a finding that they expected.

What surprised them was the material’s color.

“I remember noticing how black it was before growing carbon nanotubes on it, and then after growth, it looked even darker,” Cui recalls. “So I thought I should measure the optical reflectance of the sample.

“Our group does not usually focus on optical properties of materials, but this work was going on at the same time as our art-science collaborations with Diemut, so art influenced science in this case,” says Wardle.

Wardle and Cui, who have applied for a patent on the technology, are making the new CNT process freely available to any artist to use for a noncommercial art project.

Main picture: The Redemption of Vanity… (left) 16.78 carat natural yellow diamond; (right) the diamond covered with “the blackest black on Earth”. Exclusive image copyright : Diemut Strebe

Filed Under: News, Science Tagged With: aluminum, art, black, blacker, blackest, carbon, cui, foil, group, grow, layer, material, mit, nano-material, nanotubes, oxide, process, team, wardle

Scientists make chip using carbon nanotubes instead of silicon

September 4, 2019 by David Edwards

Scientists have made a microprocessor using carbon nanotubes – not silicon.

As reported by Science News, the innovation marks a milestone in computing.

The prototype chip is said to be slower than equivalent silicon-based processors and is not as small. [Read more…] about Scientists make chip using carbon nanotubes instead of silicon

Filed Under: Computing, News Tagged With: benefits, beyond-silicon, carbon, chip, digital, electronics, energy-efficiency, field-effect, historical, longer, nanotechnologies, nanotube, nanotubes, promise, scaling, scientists, silicon, spurring, transistor, transistor-based, yields

Nano-chimneys can cool circuits, say Rice University scientists

January 27, 2017 by Abdul Montaqim

From the Rice University website

The Rice lab of theoretical physicist Boris Yakobson found that putting a cone-like “chimney” between the graphene and nanotube all but eliminates a barrier that blocks heat from escaping.

The research appears in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Physical Chemistry C.

Heat is transferred through phonons, quasiparticle waves that also transmit sound. The Rice theory offers a strategy to channel damaging heat away from next-generation nano-electronics.  [Read more…] about Nano-chimneys can cool circuits, say Rice University scientists

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: graphene, nano-chimneys, nanotubes

Hannover Messe: Smart materials paving the way to 3D printing and to the ‘microfactory’

January 19, 2017 by Sam Francis

3d printed supercar

3d printed supercar

Get your complimentary ticket to Hannover Messe 2017

There may or may not be slight differences between what’s called “3D printing” and “additive manufacturing”, but essentially both are advanced techniques that could spell the end of assembly lines as we know them. 

It’s a widely known historic fact that giant car companies pioneered what we now known as the assembly line, where a product – such as a car or any other complex item – would move along production line, where different workers and teams of workers would do their jobs and eventually a finished product would be the result.

This process, however, is now being reconsidered in an age where customers are asking for increaing amounts of customisation and new technologies such as 3D printing and additive manufacturing are making this customisation possible.  [Read more…] about Hannover Messe: Smart materials paving the way to 3D printing and to the ‘microfactory’

Filed Under: Features, Industry, Manufacturing, News, Transportation Tagged With: additive, car, carbon, components, hannover, manufacturing, materials, messe, microfactory, nanotubes, plastics, printing, process, smart

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Latest news

  • Continental to unveil new autonomous mobile robots for first time at LogiMAT
  • GreyOrange raises $110 million for ‘growth financing’
  • Ally Robotics aims to raise $8.5 million to bring automation to the restaurant industry
  • ABB launches new robotic depalletizer to ‘reduce complexity and improve efficiency’
  • Switzerland’s largest trade fair celebrates its 20th anniversary with a promising edition
  • Seegrid launches online knowledge base for its autonomous mobile robots
  • Hydroplane highlights its hydrogen fuel cell powerplant development
  • How does Intralogistics support warehouse processes?
  • Einride unveils expanded product offerings for its autonomous trucks
  • Halodi selects Immervision to give ‘human-like’ vision to its humanoid robots

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