How to stretch carbon nanotubes

January 19, 2006 | Source: KurzweilAI

At room temperature, a nanotube typically conducts electrons like a metal. But Physicists at Boston College have observed that when stretched under high temperature, a nanotube acts less like a metal and more like a semiconductor as the level of electrical current flowing through the structure falls.

They have shown that carbon nanotubes can be stretched at high temperature to nearly four times their original length, a finding that could have implications for future semiconductor design as well as in the development of new nanocomposites and new generations of computer chips.

Source: Boston College news release