Seminars & Colloquia

Fabrication, Characterization and Application of Carbon Nanotubes

Wenzhi Li
Department of Physics
Boston College
29 January 4:00 pm Higgins 310

As an important research direction in nano-science and nano-technology, carbon nanotubes have aroused great interest in the research communities worldwide. Due to their unique structure and remarkable electronic properties, carbon nanotubes are promising elementary blocks for fabricating nano-electronic devices, such as one-dimensional quantum wire, nano-probes, biosensors, field emitters, field-effect transistors and logic circuits. Combining with their high strength, stability, elastic deformability, low density, carbon nanotubes could be extraordinary fillers in polymer for not only structural application but also functional application such as electrical conductivity, luminescence, electromagnetic interference shielding and optoelectronics.

In the present talk, the basic structure, properties and potential applications of carbon nanotubes will be introduced; a versatile technique invented through a combination of chemical vapor deposition and template effect for fabricating large scale of aligned carbon nanotube arrays will be demonstrated; temperature and pressure effects on the structure and yield of carbon nanotubes will be reported; direct synthesis, structure and formation mechanism of three-point junction (Y-junction) carbon nanotubes will be discussed. In addition, free standing carbon nanotubes arrays, double-walled carbon nanotubes and nanotubes incorporated nano-composite will be briefly reviewed.