Diamond-nanotube nanocomposite developed

September 5, 2005 | Source: KurzweilAI

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory have combined the world’s hardest known material — diamond — with the world’s strongest structural form — carbon nanotubes.

The resulting material has potential for use in low-friction, wear-resistant coatings, catalyst supports for fuel cells, high-voltage electronics, low-power/high-bandwidth radio frequency MEMS/NEMS, thermionic energy generation, low-energy-consumption flat panel displays, and hydrogen storage.

The new hybrid material was created using Ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD), a novel form of carbon developed at Argonne. The researchers made the two materials — ultrananocrystalline diamond and carbon nanotubes — grow simultaneously into dense thin films.

This was accomplished by exposing a surface covered with a mixture of diamond nanoparticles and iron nanoparticle “seeds” to an argon-rich, hydrogen-poor plasma normally used to make UNCD. The diamond and iron “seeds” catalyze the UNCD and carbon nanotube growth, respectively, and the plasma temperature and deposition time are regulated to control the speed at which the composite material grows, since carbon nanotubes normally grow much faster than ultrananocrystalline diamond.

Source: Argonne National Laboratory news release