What are carbon nanotubes?

Fullerenes (a form of carbon) were first identified in 1985 as products of experiments in which graphite was vaporized using a laser. The decipherment of the structure of the soccerball-shaped carbon C60 molecule led to the award of the Nobel Prize in 1996 to Robert Curl, Harold Kroto, and Richard Smalley. These C60 molecules were given the name

buckminsterfullerenes (colloquially termed ‘buckyballs’) after the architect Buckminster Fuller, famous for his design of geodesic dome structures. The design he invented enabled architectural structures possessing great strength to be built of lightweight materials. Similarly, the arrangement of carbon atoms imparts great strength to the C60 buckyballs, and to carbon nanotubes, its cylindrical form, which also boasts many other remarkable properties.

Carbon nanotubes consist of long, thin cylinders of carbon whose diameter is only a few nanometers but whose length can be a millimeter or more, giving an amazing length-to-width ratio. Apart from Single Walled Nano Tubes (SWNTs), carbon nanotubes can exist as Multiple Walled Nano Tubes (MWNTs) – which are cylinders inside other cylinders, and exhibit extraordinary properties.