A WAY of separating out carbon nanotubes by their size and electrical properties could make them easier to use in everything from nanoelectronics to tear-proof fabrics.
Today’s manufacturing techniques produce batches of different sizes, diameters and conductivity. However, a team from Rice University in Houston, Texas, has modified a device for sorting biological cells to sort nanotubes instead.
The instrument contains a chamber lined with gold electrodes that produce an electrical field. This exerts a dielectric force on the nanotubes that varies according to their size and electrical properties.
When nanotubes are pumped through the chamber in solution, those that…
