Charged nanotubes: Possible capacitors and adsorbents?

Log Number: 16 Discussion Topic Posted for the

Charged nanotubes: Possible capacitors and adsorbents?

Vahan Simonyan and Karl Johnson
University of Pittsburgh

Contact e-mail: vsim@pitt.edu

Nanotube bundles have large surface areas and small interbundle distances, hence they could be excellent capacitors. Here are a couple of questions regarding nanotube capacitors:

What is the largest charge that a nanotube can have in electrons per carbon atom?
Has anyone previously thought about using nanotubes as capacitors?

We have performed some molecular simulations that demonstrate that charged nanotubes have an increased capacity for hydrogen adsorption[1]. Hence, charged nanotube arrays could be used for reversible hydrogen storage systems. Are there any ideas about the technical possibilities/limitations of creating charged nanotube bundles as storage elements?

Reference:
[1] Molecular simulation of hydrogen adsorption in charged single-walled carbon nanotubes. Vahan V. Simonyan, and J. Karl Johnson, in preparation.

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Last modification: 1999.04.28 (Wednesday) 21:06:44 EDT