BUCKYPAPERNANOTECHNOLOGY

BUCKYPAPER NANOTECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION

Buckypaper Nanotechnology is one of the tending fields of research nowadays. It is the engineering of functional systems at the molecular scale, which refers to the pro-jected ability to construct items from the bottom up.

Although the term nanotechnology is somewhat new to our ears, it began in the 80’s, when machines on the molecular level can be built, hence, a technological re-volution (Center for Responsible Nanotechnology, 2008). There are a lot of applications of nanotechnologyaside from machines and electronics as well as in food processing.

The most famous breakthrough in nanotechnology hasbeen recognized in the past decade, where buckypapertook the materials industry by storm. Buckypaper wasfirst discovered by Nobel Laureates Bob Curl, Harry Kro-to, and Richard Smalley. It is a thin film formed using carbon nanotubes or fibers, which can be manipulated in order to enhance specific properties such as electro-magnetic interference (EMI) and radiation shielding,strength, electroconductivity, and heat dissipation.

It can be used in heatsinks, thermal management, elec-trodes, ultra high-strength structures, personal protec-tive equipment, medical devices, and flat panel displays.

Although buckypaper is the strongest fiber knownto man as of today as it is 250 times stronger than steel but 10 times lighter, its electroconductivity is com-parable with copper and silicon, and its thermal conduc-tivity is higher than diamond, there are disadvantages in the ultilization of this material in terms of price, handling,and processing.

WHAT IS BUCKYPAPER?

BUCKYPAPER NANOTECHNOLOGYHave you heard of a substance which is ten times lighter butis 250 times stronger than steel? It may seem possible to e-xist only in science fiction stories. But in reality, we already have an extraordinary material like this, the buckypaper.

Buckypaper is a macroscopic aggregate of carbon nanotubes (CNT), or "buckytubes". British scientist Harry Kroto and Rice University scientists started the study on buckypaper, attempting to create the conditions found in a star when it forms elemental carbon. Its etymology was drawn from buck-minsterfullerene, the 60 carbon fullerene, an allotrope of car-bon with similar bonding, referred to as a "Buckyball" in ho-nor of R. Buckminster Fuller.

Ben Wang, a professor of industrial engineering at the FloridaA&M University-FSU College of Engineering, is known as a pioneer of nano-materialscience. And his research focuses on buckypaper which is manufactured from compressed single-walled, multi-walled carbon nanotubes or fibers. And becauseof that, buckypaper is extremely thin with width appro-ximately 25 microns and lightweight with areal density of 0.0705 oz/ft²). Some properties of the buckypaper include thermal and electrical conductivity;high mechanical strength and modulus; high strain rate; highly e�cient field emission and self-actuation.

Today, numerous studies are being done to maximize the potential of buckypaper. It has a wide range of possible app-lication from cell studies in biology to fire protection and aerotechnology.

BUCKYPAPER NANOTECHNOLOGY

HISTORY

Everything in this world has a story, everything – every person, every animal, every object; they all have tales ofhow they cameto be. These stories help you understand them better if not fully. The buckypaper is no exception;it has its own interesting story that is worth looking into.

To understand the history of buckypaper, we should first look atthe story of its basic unit, the buckyballs. Buckyballs were spe-culated to exist as early as 1970 in addi-tion to several variants of carbon such as diamond and graphite. (Herndon & Fernan-dezi, 2012) However, it wasin 1985 when its existence was ac-tually demonstrated; Kroto, Curl, and Smalley of Rice Universitysought to simulate the conditions in stars and see how they pro-duce carbon. In the midst of this experiment, they were also ableto discover the carbon-60 fullerene, a molecule with 60 carbon atoms. It was called buckminsterfullerene (“buckyballs”) be-cause it also appeared like the geodesic dome promoted by the architect,

Buckminster Fuller. (Kaczor, 2008) This discovery, which won the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, led to the produc-tion ofcarbon nanotubes.

By 1991, the first carbon nanotubes (CNT) were synthe-sized by Sumio Iijima of NEC Laboratories in Japan. (Wood, 2006) After that revolutionary event, scientists became excited and began to think up of its applica-tions because “here was a new material, never before seen, that promised to bring nanotechnology to the real world.” (Wood, 2006) However, CNT faced two chal-lenges: they were expensive to produce and di�cult to manipulate.

Nevertheless, “As it turns out, this product [buckypaper] turns one of the molecule’s key disadvan-tages into an advantage.” (Wood, 2006) One of the main applications of carbon nanotubes was buckypaper. “CNT sheets or film (buckypaper) was first produced by Smalley et al in 1998, when suspensions of functional-ized CNTs were vacuum dried on membranes.” (Hern-don & Fernandezi, 2012) The buckypaper thin film was made when CNT would be dispersed in a liquid suspen-sion and then filtered through fine mesh. (Kaczor, 2008) “The tubes’ tendency to stick to each other—usually considered a problem—in this case allowed the nano-tubes to form a thin film. The result was a small disk made entirely of nanotubes.” (Wood, 2006) In fact, bu-ckypaper is so strong because of each nanotube’s high surface area. One gram of nanotubes can cover two-thirds of a football field! (Kaczor, 2008.

That was the birth of the buckypaper and scientists havebeen improving and working out its applications ever since.

BUCKYPAPER NANOTECHNOLOGY

FUTURE OF BUCKYPAPER

According to a research for the past five years at the FloridaAdvanced Center for Composite Technologies on the furtherdevelopment of buckypaper, concerning the transportation sector, buckypaper might soon enable the manufacturing of stronger and lighter aircraft with larger payloads and greaterfuel e�ciency. Moreover, in the more distant future, lightercars with better fuel e�ciency. (TFOT, 2013)

Various experiments have also shown that carbon nanotubescan act as actuators, mechanisms with the ability to turn el-ectrical energy to mechanical energy. This paved the way for artificial muscles made of buckypapers.

Buckypapers operate as electrodes in an electrochemicalcell, and because of the di�erence in the injected charge bet-ween two sheets of buckypaper, electrolyte ions form a double layer; both sides expand, but one side expands morethan the other based on the applied potential voltage. In ad-dition, buckypapers operate on the same level or better thanactual human muscles.

Today, buckypaper is still at its infancy. Researchers are stilloptimizing its manufacturing process; until they have perfec-ted their methods, buckypaper will be sold in small bundles.However, due to its promising applications in various areas— warfare, aeronautics, medicine, sports, etc., firms and institu-tions like the US military have been funnelingmoney into the research. And it’s this which keeps the wheels of the research running, catalyzing the improvement of buckypaper and un-folding new horizons for us humans.

The future of buckypaper, indeed, has never been as bright as before.

Buckypaper has erected new pedestals for breakthroughs in di�erent fields. Perhaps, what it will be most known for inthe future is its application in biomedical engineering and aeronautics.

With its at-par-with-silicon conducting capacity and heat dispersion, aircrafts can now take advantage of lightning’selectrical chargeto flow around them and dissipate it withoutcausing damage. Plus, the flowing electrical charge can alsobe used to power other components of the plane; and beinglighter than steel tenfold, aircrafts curb their energy usage.

BUCKYPAPER NANOTECHNOLOGY

APPLICATIONS OF BUCKYPAPER

Because of the buckypaper’s amazing properties, it has awide range of possible applications:

1. It could be used in the field of transportation as a new type of material for cars, airplanes and ships.

2. When used for these forms of transportation, energy e�ciency could be maximized since buckypaper is a very light material and by reducing the weight of the car, less energy is also used.

3. It could also help to shield airplanes from the damage of lightning.

4. Due to its strength, buckypaper could also be used for safety & military tools suchas vests, goggles, helmets and armored vehicles and sports equipment like badminton rackets and golf clubs.

BUCKYPAPER NANOTECHNOLOGY

buckypaper is a thin sheet made from mass of carbon nanotubes

WHAT IS BUCKYPAPER?

10 times lighter thansteel but 250 timesstronger

its fiber is about 1/50,000ththe diameter of human hair

One of the most thermallyconductive materials known

Unusually high current- carrying capacity

SOME POSSIBLE USES OF BUCKYPAPER

could be used to illuminate computerand TV screens. It would be more en-ergy e�cient and much lighter.

laptopdisperses heat from electronics moree�ciently.

could protect airplanes from electro-magnetic interference

could serve as an e�ective armorplating

encourage growth of specific typesof cells

STS THX GROUP 6

Jay Anne BacayoDarla BautistaTherese CimafrancaUzzi CruzDaiki HayashiDavid LaoCarlos LopezDhalal MaañoMarc NavisaHillarie ReyesPrincess RosalesRoyce Tee

What is Buckypaper?

"Future planes, cars may be made of `buckypaper'". Yahoo! Tech News. 2008-10-17. Retrieved 2014-03-16.

The Future of Buckypaper

Karthik Mayilvahanan, 2013. Carbon Nanotubes in Buckypaper: Synthesis, Structure, and Applications in Artificial Muscles and Fire Retardancy. http://cosmos.ucdavis.edu/archives/2013/cluster8/mayilvahanankarthik.pdf

Others

http://www.buckypaper.com/; March 17, 2014.

Images:http://assets.inhabitat.com/files/ric-ultra05.jpghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRMiQRiK5GY (screenshots)

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