Nanotechnology Now

Our NanoNews Digest Sponsors
Heifer International



Home > Press > Better control of carbon nanotube 'growth' promising for future electronics

Researchers have learned how to more fully control the formation of carbon nanotubes so that they have either metallic or semiconducting properties. The findings could help overcome a major obstacle in efforts to use the tiny structures to create a new class of electronics that would be faster and smaller than conventional silicon-based transistors. The researchers learned that if helium is used instead of argon in the formation of nanotubes, tiny iron catalyst particles have a specific size and shape and also have pronounced facets, shown in this electron microscope image. The facets apparently are related to the creation of the metallic nanotubes. (Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University)
Researchers have learned how to more fully control the formation of carbon nanotubes so that they have either metallic or semiconducting properties. The findings could help overcome a major obstacle in efforts to use the tiny structures to create a new class of electronics that would be faster and smaller than conventional silicon-based transistors. The researchers learned that if helium is used instead of argon in the formation of nanotubes, tiny iron catalyst particles have a specific size and shape and also have pronounced facets, shown in this electron microscope image. The facets apparently are related to the creation of the metallic nanotubes. (Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University)

Abstract:
Preferential Growth of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes with Metallic Conductivity

Avetik R. Harutyunyan1*, Gugang Chen1, Tereza M. Paronyan2, Elena M. Pigos1, Oleg A. Kuznetsov1, Kapila Hewaparakrama2, Seung Min Kim3,4, Dmitri Zakharov4, Eric A. Stach3,4, Gamini U. Sumanasekera2

1-Honda Research Institute USA Inc., 1381 Kinnear Road, Columbus, OH

2-Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY

3-School of Materials Engineering, Purdue University
4-Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) can be classified as either metallic or semiconducting depending on their conductivity, which is determined by their chirality. Existing synthesis methods cannot controllably grow nanotubes with a specific type of conductivity. By varying the noble gas ambient during thermal annealing of the catalyst, and in combination with oxidative and reductive species, we alter the fraction of tubes with metallic conductivity from 1/3 of the population to a maximum of 91%. In situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies reveal that this variation leads to differences in both morphology and coarsening behavior of the nanoparticles used to nucleate nanotubes. These catalyst rearrangements demonstrate that there are interrelationships between catalyst morphology and resulting nanotube electronic structure, and indicate that chiral-selective growth may be possible.

Better control of carbon nanotube 'growth' promising for future electronics

West Lafayette, IN | Posted on October 2nd, 2009

Researchers have overcome a major obstacle in efforts to use tiny structures called carbon nanotubes to create a new class of electronics that would be faster and smaller than conventional silicon-based transistors.

Carbon nanotubes, which were discovered in the early 1990s, could make possible more powerful, compact and energy-efficient computers, as well as ultra-thin "nanowires" for electronic circuits. The nanotubes might be ideal for future electronics because they conduct electricity more efficiently than any other metal, but their practical application requires that they be manufactured to specific standards.

Now scientists in the Materials Science Division at the Honda Research Institute USA Inc., Purdue University and the University of Louisville have learned how to control the formation of carbon nanotubes so that they have either metallic or semiconducting properties.

"This problem of how to control whether you have a metal or a semiconductor is the key stumbling block in making transistors out of carbon nanotubes," said Eric Stach, an associate professor of materials engineering at Purdue. "Solid-state electronics is built around the fact that you can control the semiconducting properties of silicon."

Findings will be detailed in a research paper appearing Friday (Oct. 2) in the journal Science. The research is led by Avetik Harutyunyan, principal scientist at the Honda Research Institute USA Inc. in Columbus, Ohio.

"This is the first report that shows we can control pretty systematically whether carbon nanotubes are metallic or semiconducting," Harutyunyan said. "We have a 91 percent success rate of producing metallic nanotubes."

Silicon-based transistors control the flow of electrons by using specific combinations of metals and semiconductors. Researchers are working to learn how to precisely control the properties of carbon nanotubes so that they can be used as both the semiconductor and metal components of transistors.

"Generally, carbon is not a metal, but carbon nanotubes with a particular configuration are," Stach said.

Semiconductors, such as silicon, sometimes behave as conductors and sometimes as insulators, whereas metals always behave as conductors. Researchers have known for several years that carbon nanotubes randomly form so that they are sometimes metallic and sometimes semiconductor, but until now they have not known the precise reasons why.

Carbon nanotubes can be visualized as sheets of carbon atoms one layer thick and rolled up into tubes. Much like the pitch of a screw, they can have a different configuration depending on how they roll up, and this configuration determines whether they conduct like a metal or a semiconductor.

The nanotubes are "grown" in a vacuum chamber by exposing iron particles to methane gas. The gas contains carbon and hydrogen, and the iron particles act as a catalyst to liberate carbon from the gas. The particles are heated to about 800 degrees Celsius, or more than 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit. With increasing exposure, the iron eventually contains too much carbon and becomes "supersaturated." As a result, the carbon precipitates as a solid, causing the nanotube to begin forming.

Honda researchers learned recently that they could control whether the carbon nanotubes become metal or semiconductor by using either argon or helium as "carrier gases" to aid in flowing the methane into the chamber in the presence of water.

Researchers at Louisville used the technique to produce large quantities of nanotubes and made careful electrical measurements to confirm whether the nanotubes were metallic or semiconductor.

Purdue researchers took high-resolution images using an instrument called a transmission electron microscope to determine why the process works.

"The instrument enables you to take images while the nanotubes are forming," Stach said. "We can see the atomic structure of the materials while also looking at how the environment affects them."

The Purdue portion of the research is based at the Birck Nanotechnology Center in the university's Discovery Park.

"These findings provide a window into the intimate relationship between the atomic structure of the catalyst nanoparticle and the carbon nanotube that grows from that catalyst nanoparticle," said Timothy D. Sands, the Mary Jo and Robert L. Kirk Director of the Birck Nanotechnology Center. "The results also show that the atomic structure of the catalyst nanoparticle can be controlled by the ambient carrier gas, a linkage that may represent the first step toward a solution to one of the most vexing challenges in nanotechnology."

The Purdue researchers learned that if helium is used instead of argon, the iron particles have a specific size and shape and also have pronounced facets, but the facets diminish and the particle size varies when argon is used.

"The facets form nearly at right angles, but when you switch from helium to argon those facets round out," Stach said. "The helium and the presence of these strong facets, together with the size of the iron particles, appears to be what allows the creation of the metallic nanotubes.

"Our results indicate that you might be able to control the size and shape of the catalyst sufficiently to control the structure and thus the conductivity of the nanotubes. It is the first demonstration of a deterministic relationship between the catalyst state and the resulting nanotube structure."

Researchers aren't sure what role the water plays in the process.

"The water might promote the formation of the facets, and the argon might somehow prevent the water from doing so, but more research is needed to determine this," Stach said.

The work is ongoing and is funded by Honda.

The paper was written by Honda researchers Harutyunyan, Gugang Chen, Elena M. Pigos and Oleg A. Kuznetsov; Louisville researchers Tereza M. Paronyan, Gamini U. Sumanasekera and Kapila Hewaparakrama; and Purdue researchers Seung Min Kim, Dmitri Zakharov and Stach.

####

For more information, please click here

Contacts:
Writer:
Emil Venere
765-494-4709


Sources:
Eric Stach
765-494-1466


David Iida
Honda Research Institute
USA media contact
310-781-4399


Purdue News Service:
(765) 494-2096

Copyright © Purdue University

If you have a comment, please Contact us.

Issuers of news releases, not 7th Wave, Inc. or Nanotechnology Now, are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.

Bookmark:
Delicious Digg Newsvine Google Yahoo Reddit Magnoliacom Furl Facebook

Related News Press

News and information

Researchers develop artificial building blocks of life March 8th, 2024

How surface roughness influences the adhesion of soft materials: Research team discovers universal mechanism that leads to adhesion hysteresis in soft materials March 8th, 2024

Two-dimensional bimetallic selenium-containing metal-organic frameworks and their calcinated derivatives as electrocatalysts for overall water splitting March 8th, 2024

Curcumin nanoemulsion is tested for treatment of intestinal inflammation: A formulation developed by Brazilian researchers proved effective in tests involving mice March 8th, 2024

Nanotubes/Buckyballs/Fullerenes/Nanorods/Nanostrings

Catalytic combo converts CO2 to solid carbon nanofibers: Tandem electrocatalytic-thermocatalytic conversion could help offset emissions of potent greenhouse gas by locking carbon away in a useful material January 12th, 2024

TU Delft researchers discover new ultra strong material for microchip sensors: A material that doesn't just rival the strength of diamonds and graphene, but boasts a yield strength 10 times greater than Kevlar, renowned for its use in bulletproof vests November 3rd, 2023

Tests find no free-standing nanotubes released from tire tread wear September 8th, 2023

Detection of bacteria and viruses with fluorescent nanotubes July 21st, 2023

Nanoelectronics

Interdisciplinary: Rice team tackles the future of semiconductors Multiferroics could be the key to ultralow-energy computing October 6th, 2023

Key element for a scalable quantum computer: Physicists from Forschungszentrum Jülich and RWTH Aachen University demonstrate electron transport on a quantum chip September 23rd, 2022

Reduced power consumption in semiconductor devices September 23rd, 2022

Atomic level deposition to extend Moore’s law and beyond July 15th, 2022

Discoveries

What heat can tell us about battery chemistry: using the Peltier effect to study lithium-ion cells March 8th, 2024

Researchers’ approach may protect quantum computers from attacks March 8th, 2024

High-tech 'paint' could spare patients repeated surgeries March 8th, 2024

Nanoscale CL thermometry with lanthanide-doped heavy-metal oxide in TEM March 8th, 2024

Announcements

What heat can tell us about battery chemistry: using the Peltier effect to study lithium-ion cells March 8th, 2024

Curcumin nanoemulsion is tested for treatment of intestinal inflammation: A formulation developed by Brazilian researchers proved effective in tests involving mice March 8th, 2024

The Access to Advanced Health Institute receives up to $12.7 million to develop novel nanoalum adjuvant formulation for better protection against tuberculosis and pandemic influenza March 8th, 2024

Nanoscale CL thermometry with lanthanide-doped heavy-metal oxide in TEM March 8th, 2024

NanoNews-Digest
The latest news from around the world, FREE




  Premium Products
NanoNews-Custom
Only the news you want to read!
 Learn More
NanoStrategies
Full-service, expert consulting
 Learn More











ASP
Nanotechnology Now Featured Books




NNN

The Hunger Project