Carbon nanotube photo-thermo-mechanical actuator.

Carbon nanotubes show a remarkable tendency for direct (rapid) temperature increase of the order of hundreds of degrees when exposed to near infra-red light. The reason is local confinement of the heat wave in their 1D structure which generates rapid temperature rise. Here we demonstrate that these high temperatures can be exploited to generate large deformation and force output by anchoring the nanotubes to a substrate. We report energy density (i.e., work done per unit mass) of the nanotube actuator as approximately 4268 J/Kg which is significantly larger than piezoceramic (approximately 4.25 J/Kg), magnetostrictive (approximately 21.6 J/Kg), lead-zinc-niobate/lead-titanate single-crystals (approximately 131 J/Kg), polyvinylidene fluoride trifluoro-ethylene copolymers (approximately 160 J/Kg) and shape memory alloys (approximately 1337 J/Kg).

Seebeck tuning in chalcogenide nanoplate assemblies by nanoscale heterostructuring.

Chalcogenide nanostructures offer promise for obtaining nanomaterials with high electrical conductivity, low thermal conductivity, and high Seebeck coefficient. Here, we demonstrate a new approach of tuning the Seebeck coefficient of nanoplate assemblies of single-crystal pnictogen chalcogenides by heterostructuring the nanoplates with tellurium nanocrystals. We synthesized bismuth telluride and antimony telluride nanoplates decorated with tellurium nanorods and nanofins using a rapid, scalable, microwave-stimulated organic surfactant-directed technique. Heterostructuring permits two- to three-fold factorial tuning of the Seebeck coefficient, and yields a 40% higher value than the highest reported for bulk antimony telluride. Microscopy and spectroscopy analyses of the nanostructures suggest that Seebeck tunability arises from carrier-energy filtration effects at the Te-chalcogenide heterointerfaces. Our approach of heterostructuring nanoscale building blocks is attractive for realizing high figure-of-merit thermoelectric nanomaterials.

Nanostructured silicon anodes for lithium ion rechargeable batteries.

Rechargeable lithium ion batteries are integral to today's information-rich, mobile society. Currently they are one of the most popular types of battery used in portable electronics because of their high energy density and flexible design. Despite their increasing use at the present time, there is great continued commercial interest in developing new and improved electrode materials for lithium ion batteries that would lead to dramatically higher energy capacity and longer cycle life. Silicon is one of the most promising anode materials because it has the highest known theoretical charge capacity and is the second most abundant element on earth. However, silicon anodes have limited applications because of the huge volume change associated with the insertion and extraction of lithium. This causes cracking and pulverization of the anode, which leads to a loss of electrical contact and eventual fading of capacity. Nanostructured silicon anodes, as compared to the previously tested silicon film anodes, can help overcome the above issues. As arrays of silicon nanowires or nanorods, which help accommodate the volume changes, or as nanoscale compliant layers, which increase the stress resilience of silicon films, nanoengineered silicon anodes show potential to enable a new generation of lithium ion batteries with significantly higher reversible charge capacity and longer cycle life.

Effect of tip geometry on photo-electron-emission from nanostructures.

We show in this paper the strong effect of tip geometry on the photo-electron-emission behavior of nanostructured surfaces. To study the effect of tip geometry we compared the photo-emissivity of Ru and Pt nanorods with pyramidal shaped tips to that of carbon nanorods that display flat top (planar) tips. Flat top architectures gave no significant increase in the emission current, while nanostructures with pyramidal shaped tips showed 3-4 fold increase in photo-emission compared to a thin film of the same material. Pyramidal tip geometries increase the effective surface area that is exposed to the incident photon-flux thereby enhancing the photon-collection probability of the system. Such nano-structured surfaces show promise in a variety of device applications such as photo-detectors, photon counters and photo-multiplier tubes.

Detecting mechanical resonance in carbon nanotubes via inter-tube electrical transport measurements.

Detecting the mechanical resonance frequency of carbon nanotubes has strong potential applications that range from nano-scale balances to detect very small mass changes to ultra-sensitive bio-sensors. Detection of nanotube resonance requires elaborate and time-consuming techniques such as in-situ TEM, which limits the practical utility of this concept. In this paper we report a simple and accurate technique for detection of nanotube resonance by monitoring inter-tube electrical transport in a vibrating array of aligned multiwalled carbon nanotubes. The conductivity measurements are performed using a four-point probe in a direction perpendicular to the nanotube axis. We observe a dramatic decrease in the dc electrical resistance of the nanotube array at the mechanical resonance condition. We believe this is due to inter-tube impacts at resonance, which leads to an increase in the nanotube local temperature and hence increases the electron hopping rate. The impacting of the tubes could also enable localized tunneling of electrons through the nanotube array along with the hopping.