9/18/2023 0 Comments Carbon nanotubes priceMicroscopic analysis revealed that the treatment caused the outer nanotube to partially unzip and form nanosized graphene pieces that clung to the inner nanotube, which remained mostly intact. “But defects are actually important to promote the formation of catalytic sites and to render the nanotube very active for catalytic reactions.” Unzippedįor the study, Li and his co-workers treated multi-walled nanotubes in a chemical solution. “A typical carbon nanotube has few defects,” said Yanguang Li, a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford and lead author of the study. The scientists showed that shredding the outer wall, while leaving the inner walls intact, enhances catalytic activity in nanotubes, yet does not interfere with their ability to conduct electricity. Carbon nanotubes and graphene are excellent conductors of electricity and relatively inexpensive to produce.įor the study, the Stanford team used multi-walled carbon nanotubes consisting of two or three concentric tubes nested together. Among the most promising low-cost alternatives to platinum is the carbon nanotube – a rolled-up sheet of pure carbon, called graphene, that’s one atom thick and more than 10,000 times narrower a human hair. Over the past five years, the price of platinum has ranged from just below $800 to more than $2,200 an ounce. “Developing a low-cost alternative has been a major research goal for several decades.” “Platinum is very expensive and thus impractical for large-scale commercialization,” said Hongjie Dai, a professor of chemistry at Stanford and co-author of the study. Their findings are published in the May 27 online edition of the journal Nature Nanotechnology. Multi-walled carbon nanotubes riddled with defects and impurities on the outside could eventually replace some of the expensive platinum catalysts used in fuel cells and metal-air batteries, according to Stanford scientists. Now, nanoscale research at Stanford University has found a way to reduce the cost. But the high price of catalysts used inside the cells has provided a roadblock to widespread use. They hold promise in a variety of areas, such as fuel-cell cars. They are used, for example, to keep the lights on for astronauts in orbiting space stations. By using multi-walled carbon nanotubes riddled with defects and impurities on the outside, the scientists believe they may be able to eventually replace some of the expensive platinum catalysts used in fuel cells and metal-air batteries.įuel cells use chemicals to create electricity. Researchers at Stanford University have found a way to help reduce the cost of catalysts used inside fuel cells. This drawing shows the damaged outer wall of a carbon nanotube with nanosized graphene pieces (white patches), which facilitate the formation of catalytic sites made of iron (yellow) and nitrogen (red) atoms.
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