Carbon nanotubes, SEM

Rights Managed

SS2788623

TA4622

Colored scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of carbon nanotubes (single and multi-walled). Carbon nanotubes are rolled sheets of carbon atoms that form cylinders. They are structurally related to fullerenes cages of carbon atoms discovered in 1985. The cylindrical carbon nanotubes can be either single-walled (SWNTs) or multi-walled (MWNTs). MWNTs have multiple carbon wall layers which do not change the nanotubes mechanical or electrical properties. Nanotubes are grown by several laboratory techniques and they are just a few nanometers in diameter and several microns long. In the field of nanotechnology the tiny size of the tubes may yield useful electrical components. Nanotubes have a very broad range of electronic, thermal, and structural properties that change depending on the different physical parameters of nanotubes. SWNTs and (MWNTs) can be formed to produce nanofibers and nanoelectronic components. Magnification: x13,335 when shortest axis printed at 25 millimeters.

Dennis Kunkel Microscopy / Science Source