This is a bit of a surprise and we do not know where it will actually end, but it has become possible to create oddly shaped forms out of the nanotubes forming process. We are clearly developing manufacturing capacity that applies across a variety of materials.
It is now plausible to manufacture a complex three dimensional structure out of many materials while forming vast geometries throughout in nanoscales. We do not know yet why we would want to do this but it is certainly eliminating boundaries.
There is plenty of work ahead needed to explore these new capabilities and that will be ongoing for many years.
I suppose at some point a complete super computer will be packed inside a crystal. We are certainly going there if we actually want to go there. It will make star wars technology look antiquated. Of course, in the sixties Buck Rogers also looked dated.
New manufacturing method gives shape to carbon nanotubes
By Ben Coxworth
23:12 October 21, 2010
Carbon nanotubes, despite all the technological advances they’re making possible, look pretty boring. When viewed though a microscope, they are, essentially, just straight tubes. Now scientists from the University of Michigan
“It’s easy to make carbon nanotubes straight and vertical like buildings,” said U Michigan mechanical engineer Prof. A. John Hart. “It hasn’t been possible to make them into more complex shapes. Assembling nanostructures into three-dimensional shapes is one of the major goals of nanotechnology and nanomanufacturing. The method of capillary forming could be applied to many types of nanotubes and nanowires, and its scalability is very attractive for manufacturing.”
The capillary forming process begins with pieces of thin metal film, which serve as both catalyst and template, being laid down on a silicon wafer. These pieces of film have various shapes, which will determine the form of the finished nanotube structures.
Next, the wafer and the film are heated in a high temperature furnace that contains a hydrocarbon gas mixture. In a chemical vapor deposition process, the gas reacts with the film/catalyst, causing the carbon from the gas to form into nanotubes, which grow upwards from the film.
After that, the wafer and nanotubes are suspended over a beaker of boiling acetone. As the acetone condenses on the nanotubes, it travels up into the spaces between them via capillary action, and causes them to bend and twist into three-dimensional structures.
“We program the formation of 3D shapes with these 2D patterns,” Hart said. “We’ve discovered that the starting shape influences how the capillary forces manipulate the nanotubes in a very specific way. Some bend, others twist, and we can combine them any way we want.”
Large batches of the 3D nanotube structures can be produced at once, and due to the fact that they are very stiff, they could be used as molds for creating duplicate structures using other materials.
Hart believes that they could make many new microdevices and materials possible, such as probes that can interface with individual cells, novel microfluidic devices, and lightweight materials for aircraft and spacecraft.
The research was recently published in the journal Advanced Materials.
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