Carbon nanotube breakthrough claimed

NANOTUBE TECHNOLOGY will feature in future televisions, NKK Corporation suggests, having developed a carbon nanotube shaped like a piece of tape. The company claims its tubes are pliable and are likely to be incorporated into next-generation display panels eventually replacing plasma displays.

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun says the steelmaker, NKK, has developed a new manufacturing method to produce nanotubes with a purity of nearly 100 per cent. This level of purity in manufacturing greatly reduces the cost of producing the tubes by obviating the need for post production purification.

NKK announced it will begin sample shipments early next year. The company reckons it can start mass production of the new material in within months.

Carbon nanotubes are minute cylinders of carbon atoms that are efficient conductors and an emit large amounts of electrons at low voltages. NKK says its carbon nanotube tape could be used for such products as a next-generation flat-panel displays, fuel cells, field emission displays, and radiating components of integrated circuits. µ