14 DAY TRIAL // Investigators from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) announce the development of a healing method dedicated to carbon nanotubes. These extremely-small structures are thousands of times smaller than a human hair, and hold great promise for new generations of electronic devices.
Nanotubes can be made by rolling graphene, a 1-atom-thick, 2D hexagonal carbon lattice. Scientists have been trying to use them to replace silicon in transistors, but heating is sometimes a problem. What the UIUC team did was develop a way for this material to heal itself, if its performances decline due to excessive heat.
The technique works especially well for points of contact between nanotubes (pictured above). When these areas heat too much, metal-containing gas molecules spring into action and deposit their loads onto the junctions. This essentially solders the wires into place, and helps lower temperatures.
Through this approach, the UIUC group was able to obtain proof-of-concept electronic devices that are one order of magnitude more energy-efficient than existing devices, Science Daily reports. The innovation is detailed in the latest issue of the journal Nano Letters.