My watch list
my.chemeurope.com  
Login  

Nanotube membrane



Part of the article series on
Nanotechnology

History
Implications
Applications
Organizations
Popular culture
List of topics

Subfields and related fields

Nanomaterials
Fullerenes · Carbon nanotubes · Nanoparticles

Nanomedicine

Molecular self-assembly
Self-assembled monolayer · Supramolecular assembly ·
DNA nanotechnology

Nanoelectronics
Molecular electronics · Nanocircuitry · Nanolithography · Nanoionics

Scanning probe microscopy
Atomic force microscope · Scanning tunneling microscope

Molecular nanotechnology
Molecular assembler · Mechanosynthesis · Nanorobotics · Productive nanosystems

This box: view  talk  edit

Nanotube membranes are films composed of open-ended nanotubes that are oriented perpendicularly to the surface of an impermeable film matrix like the cells of a honeycomb. Fluids and gas molecules may pass through the membrane en masse.

Water may pass through the graphitic nanotube cores of the membrane at speeds several magnitudes greater than classical fluid dynamics would predict. Nitin Chopra and Mainak Majumder in the research group lead by Bruce Hinds at the University of Kentucky were first to observe this phenomenon in late 2005 [1] and indepently observed ( with additional enhanced gas flow observations) Olgica Bakajin and Aleksandr Noy at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in early 2006. [2]

In 2007 a group of researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, also in the U.S., led by Nikhil Koratkar found that the flow of water through carbon nanotube membranes (without filler matrix, thus flow on the outside surface of CNTs) can be precisely controlled through the application of electrical current.[3]

Among many potential uses that nanotube membranes might one day be employed is the desalination of water.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ National Science Foundation Public Affairs (2005-11-10). "Slippery When Wet". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-9-25.
  2. ^ a b Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Public Affairs (2006-5-18). "Nanotube membranes offer possibility of cheaper desalination". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-9-7.
  3. ^ Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (2007-2-13). "Controlling the Movement of Water Through Nanotube Membranes". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-9-7.
 
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Nanotube_membrane". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.
Your browser is not current. Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 does not support some functions on Chemie.DE