Rice’s carbon nanotube fibers outperform copper
February 24, 2014
Scanning electron microscope images show typical carbon nanotube fibers created at Rice University and broken into two by high-current-induced Joule heating. Rice researchers broke the fibers in different conditions — air, argon, nitrogen and a vacuum — to see how well they handled high current. The fibers proved overall to be better at carrying electrical current than copper cables of the same mass. (Credit: Kono Lab/Rice University)
On a pound-per-pound basis, carbon nanotube-based fibers invented at Rice University have the capacity to carry four times as much electrical current than copper cables of the same mass, according to new research.
While individual nanotubes are capable of transmitting nearly 1,000 times more current than copper, the same tubes coalesced into a fiber using other construction methods fail long before reaching that capacity.
But a series of tests at Rice showed the wet-spun carbon nanotube fiber still handily beat copper. That makes nanotube-based cables an ideal platform for lightweight power transmission in systems where weight is a significant factor, like aerospace applications, said the researchers.
The analysis led by Rice professors Junichiro Kono and Matteo Pasquali appeared in the journal Advanced Functional Materials. Just a year ago the journal Science reported that Pasquali’s lab, in collaboration with scientists at the Dutch firm Teijin Aramid, created a very strong conductive fiber out of carbon nanotubes.
Present-day transmission cables made of copper or aluminum are heavy because their low tensile strength requires steel-core reinforcement.
Certain types of carbon nanotubes can carry far more electricity than copper. The ideal cable would be made of long metallic “armchair” nanotubes that would transmit current over great distances with negligible loss, but such a cable is not feasible because it’s not yet possible to manufacture pure armchairs in bulk, Pasquali said.
In the meantime, the Pasquali lab has created a method to spin fiber from a mix of nanotube types that still outperforms copper. The cable developed by Pasquali and Teijin Aramid is strong and flexible even though at 20 microns wide, it’s thinner than a human hair.
Highest current carrying capacity for carbon-based fibers
Rice researchers analyzed the fiber’s “current carrying capacity” (CCC), or ampacity, with a custom rig that allowed them to test it alongside metal cables of the same diameter. The cables were tested while they were suspended in the open air, in a vacuum and in nitrogen or argon environments.
Electric cables heat up because of resistance. When the current load exceeds the cable’s safe capacity, they get too hot and break. The researchers found nanotube fibers exposed to nitrogen performed best, followed by argon and open air, all of which were able to cool through convection. The same nanotube fibers in a vacuum could only cool by radiation and had the lowest CCC.
“The outcome is that these fibers have the highest CCC ever reported for any carbon-based fibers,” Kono said. “Copper still has better resistivity by an order of magnitude, but we have the advantage that carbon fiber is light. So if you divide the CCC by the mass, we win.”
Pasquali suggested the thread-like fibers are light enough to deliver power to aerial vehicles. “Suppose you want to power an unmanned aerial vehicle from the ground,” he mused. “You could make it like a kite, with power supplied by our fibers. I wish Ben Franklin were here to see that!”
The research was supported by the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, the Robert A. Welch Foundation, Teijin Aramid BV, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Department of Defense National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship.
Abstract of Advanced Functional Materials paper
The current-carrying capacity (CCC), or ampacity, of highly-conductive, light, and strong carbon nanotube (CNT) fibers is characterized by measuring their failure current density (FCD) and continuous current rating (CCR) values. It is shown, both experimentally and theoretically, that the CCC of these fibers is determined by the balance between current-induced Joule heating and heat exchange with the surroundings. The measured FCD values of the fibers range from 107 to 109 A m−2 and are generally higher than the previously reported values for aligned buckypapers, carbon fibers, and CNT fibers. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time the CCR for a CNT fiber has been reported. The specific CCC value (i.e., normalized by the linear mass density) of these CNT fibers are demonstrated to be higher than those of copper.