University of Oulu
INFOTECH OULU

Infotech Oulu Graduate School

Understanding of carbon nanotubes

Date & time: October 1-2, 2008, from 10:00 to 16:00 (both days), 12 hours lectures

Place: Seminar room TS 133

Lecturers: Dr. Robert Vajtai, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA, Dr. Krisztian Kordas, University of Oulu, Finland

Credits: 8 credit points for the book (basic physical properties) plus 4 credit points for the articles (applications of CNTs). Credits are to be approved by the Board of Postgraduate Studies

Acceptance: Written examination on 17th October 2008, 12:00-15:00, conference room TS 3110

Abstract

The course introduces the state-of-the-art applications of various kinds of carbon nanotubes and explains the uniqueness of nanotubes that makes them - in many cases - superior than their competitors for specific applications. A number of different examples of the already existing and also potential future commercial uses of nanotubes are explained. In the lectures we discuss both on multiwalled nanotubes with different degrees of perfection and on the near-perfect molecular material, the single-wall nanotubes. The last decade of research in this field brought several examples to implement these materials; electronic devices and interconnects, field emission devices, electrochemical devices, such as supercapacitors and batteries, nanoscale sensors, electromechanical actuators, separation membranes and filled polymer composites are some of the possible applications that have been demonstrated in the laboratories. The opportunities, challenges and the major bottlenecks, including large-scale manufacturing for nanotube material, will be identified as we define the applications space for nanotubes.

Abbreviated curriculum vitae of Dr. Robert Vajtai

Dr. Robert Vajtai joined Pulickel M. Ajayan's group at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in July 2000 spending there his sabbatical with a NATO-NSF Fellowship. Robert received his M.S. degree in physics and his Ph.D. degree in solid-state physics from University of Szeged, Hungary (the highest ranked university in Hungary), in 1986 and 1997, respectively. From 1987 to 2002 he was a faculty member of the Experimental Physics Department of Szeged University, Hungary. He was rewarded by the Bolyai Fellowship of the Hungarian Scientific Academy for 1999-2000. He also spent sabbatical time as a Fellow of the Swedish Institute in The Ångström Laboratory in Uppsala, Sweden from 1998 to 1999; as an Eötvös Fellow at the EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland from 1995 to 1996 and he also visited the Max Planck Institute in Göttingen, Germany in 1993 via Max Planck Fellowship. Between 2003 and 2008 he was a Laboratory Manager at the Rensselaer Nanotechnology Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Troy, NY managing the nanoparticle generation by inert gas deposition and the carbon nanotechnology laboratories. He is currently a Faculty Fellow at Rice University. His work is focused on growth and applications of carbon nanotube structures. He has published dozens of papers in top-journals such as Science, Nature, Advanced Materials, Nano Letters, Small, PNAS, ACS Nano, JACS, APL and Physical Review series, and is a regular invited speaker on various international symposia of materials science and technology.

References for the course material
  1. Loiseau, P. Launois, P. Petit, S. Roche, J-P. Salvetat (Eds.): Understanding Carbon Nanotubes: From Basics to Applications, Springer 2006, DOI 10.1007/b10971390
  2. L. Ci, J. Suhr, V. Pushparaj, X. Zhang, P. M. Ajayan, "Continuous carbon nanotube reinforced composites" Nano Lett. 10.1021/nl8012715 (2008) L. Ci, Z. Xu, L. Wang, W. Gao, F. Ding, K. F. Kelly, B. I. Yackobson and P. M. Ajayan, "Controlled Nanocutting of Graphene" Nano Research, 1, 116 (2008).
  3. S. K. Pal, Y. Son, T. Borca-Tasciuc, Diana-Andra Borca-Tasciuc, S. Kar, R. Vajtai, and P. M. Ajayan, *"Thermal and electrical transport along MWCNT arrays grown on Inconel substrates*" J. Mater. Res. 8, 2099 (2008)
  4. Punbusayakul, N, L. Ci, S. Talapatra, W. Surareungchai, P. M. Ajayan, "Ultra-long MWNT for electrochemical sensing" J. Nanosci. Nanotech. 8, 2085 (2008).
  5. N. Halonen, K. Kordas, G. Toth, T. Mustonen, J. Maklin, J. Vahakangas, P. M. Ajayan and R. Vajtai. "Controlled CCVD synthesis of robust multiwalled CNT films" J. Phys. Chem. C, 112, 6723 (2008).
  6. T. Mustonen, J. Mäklin, K. Kordás, N. Halonen, G. Tóth, S. Saukko, J. Vähäkangas, H. Jantunen, S. Kar, P. M. Ajayan, R. Vajtai, P. Helistö, H. Seppä, H. Moilanen. "Controlled Ohmic and nonlinear electrical transport in inkjet-printed SWNT films" Phys. Rev. B. 77, 125430 (2008).
  7. M. Endo, M. S. Strano and P. M. Ajayan, "Potential applications of carbon nanotubes" Carbon nanotubes, Topics in Applied Physics, 111, 13-61 (2008)
  8. S. Sethi, L. Ge, L. Ci, P. M. Ajayan and A. Dhinojwala, "Gecko-inspired Carbon nanotube based self cleaning adhesives" Nano Letters 12-Feb-2008
  9. Y. Son, S. K. Pal, T. Borca- Tasciuc, P. M. Ajayan and R. W. Siegel, "Thermal resistance of the native interface between vertically aligned MWNT and their SiO2/Si substrate" J. Appl. Phys. 103, 024911 (2008).
  10. Z. Yang, L. Ci, J. A. Bur, S. Y. Lin and P. M. Ajayan, "Experimental Observation of an extremely dark material made by a low-density nanotube array" Nano Letters 09-Jan-2008
  11. S. Kim, S. Pal, P. M. Ajayan, T. Borca- Tasciuc and N. Koratkar, "Electrical breakdown gas detector featuring carbon nanotube array electrodes" J. Nanosci. Nanotech. 8, 1 (2008).
  12. S. Kaur, S. Sahoo, P. M. Ajayan and R. S. Kane, "Capillarity-driven assembly of carbon nanotubes on substrates into dense vertically aligned arrays" Adv. Mater. 19, 2984 (2007).
  13. V. L. Pushparaj, L. Ci, S. Sreekala, A. Kumar, S. Kesapragada, D. Gall, O. Nalamasu, J. Suhr and P. M. Ajayan, “Effects of compressive strains on electrical conductivities of a macroscale carbon nanotube block” Appl. Phys. Lett. 91, 153116 (2007).
  14. Ci, M. M. Shaijumon, X. Li, R. Vajtai, and P. M. Ajayan, “Ultrathick Freestanding Aligned Nanotube Films” *Adv. Mater*. 19, 3300 (2007).
  15. V. L. Pushparaj, M. M. Shaijumon, A. Kumar, S. Murugesan, L. Ci, R. Vajtai, R. J. Linhardt, O. Nalamasu, and P. M. Ajayan, “Flexible energy storage devices based on nanocomposite paper“, *Proc. Nat. **Acad. Sci., *104, 13574 (2007).
  16. J. Suhr, P. Victor, L. Ci, S. Sreekala, X. Zhang, O. Nalamasu, and P. M. Ajayan, “Fatigue resistance of aligned carbon nanotube arrays under cyclic compression” *Nature Nanotechnology*, 2, 417 (2007).
  17. M. Ajayan and J. Tour, “Nanotube composites”, Nature, 447, 1066 (2007).
  18. L. Ge, S. Sethi, L. Ci, P. M. Ajayan and A. Dhinojwala, Carbon nanotube-based synthetic gecko-tapes”, Proc. Nat. Acad. of Sci., 104, 10792 (2007).
  19. L. Ci, N. Punbusayakul, J. Wei, R. Vajtai, S. Talapatra, and P. M. Ajayan, "Multifunctional macroarchitectures of double-walled carbon nanotube fibers", Adv. Mater., 19, 1719 (2007).
  20. Borca-Tasciuc, M. Mazumder, Y. Son, S. K. Pal, L. S. Schadler, and P. M. Ajayan, "Anisotropic thermal diffusivity characterization of aligned carbon nanotube-polymer composites", J. Nanosci. Nanotech., 7, 1581 (2007).
  21. K. Kordas, T. Mustonen, G. Toth, J. Vahakangas, A. Uusimaki, H. Jantunen, A. Gupta, K. V. Rao, R. Vajtai, and P. M. Ajayan, “Magnetic-field induced efficient alignment of carbon nanotubes in aqueous solutions”, *Chem. Mater.*, 19, 787 (2007).
  22. R. Vajtai, B. Q. Wei, T. F. George and P. M. Ajayan, "Chemical vapor deposition of organized architectures of carbon nanotubes for applications", *Topics in Appl. Phys.* 109, 188 (2007).
  23. P. M. V. Raja, J. Connolley, G. P. Ganesan, L. Ci, P. M. Ajayan, O. Nalamasu, and D. M. Thompson, “Impact of carbon nanotube exposure, dosage and aggregation on smooth muscle cells”, Toxicology Letters, 169, 51 (2007).
  24. 24. T. Borca-Tasciuc, M. Mazumder, Y. Son, S. K. Pal, L. S. Schadler, and P. M. Ajayan, “Anisotropic thermal diffusivity characterization of aligned carbon nanotube-polymer composites”,* J. Nanosci & Nanotechnology*, 7, 1581 (2007).
  25. S. Li, G. Y. Zhu, J. S. Dordick, and P. M. Ajayan, “Compression-modulated tunable-pore carbon-nanotube membrane filters”, *Small*, 3 (4), 1613 (2007).
  26. K. Kordás, G. Tóth, P. Moilanen, M. Kumpumäki, J. Vähäkangas, A. Uusimäki, R. Vajtai, and P. M. Ajayan, "Chip cooling with integrated carbon nanotube microfin architectures", *Appl. Phys. Letters* 90, 123105 (2007).
  27. K. Kordas, T. Mustonen, G. Toth, H. Jantunen, M. Lajunen, C. Soldano, S. Talapatra, S. Kar, R. Vajtai and P. M. Ajayan, “Inkjet printing of electrically conductive patterns of carbon nanotubes”, *Small*, 2, 1021 (2006).
  28. A.Y. Cao, P. L. Dickrell, W. G. Sawyer, M. N. Ghasemi-Nejhad and P. M. Ajayan, “Super-compressible foam-like carbon nanotube films“, *Science*, 310, 1307 (2005).
  29. A.Y. Cao, V. P. Veedu, X. Li, Z. Yao, M. N. Ghasemi-Nejhad and P. M. Ajayan, “Multi-functional carbon nanotube based micro-brushes“, *Nature Materials*, 4, 540 (2005).
  30. G. W. Meng, Y. J. Jung, A. Cao, R. Vajtai and P. M. Ajayan, “Controlled fabrication of hierarchically branched nanopores, nanotubes and nanowires“, *Proc. Nat. **Acad. Sci.*, 102, 7074 (2005).
  31. L. B. Kish and P. M. Ajayan, “Terrabyte flash memory with carbon nanotubes“, *Appl. **Phys. Lett.*, 86, 93106 (2005).
  32. J. Suhr, N. Koratkar, P. Keblinski and P. M. Ajayan, “Viscoelasticity in carbon nanotube composites“, *Nature Materials*, 4, 134 (2005).
  33. Srivastava, O. N. Srivastava, S. Talapatra, R. Vajtai and P. M. Ajayan, “Carbon nanotube filters“, *Nature Materials*, 3, 610 (2004).
  34. Modi, N. Koratkar, E. Lass, B. Q. Wei and P. M. Ajayan, "Miniaturized gas ionization sensors using carbon nanotubes" *Nature,* _424_, 171 (2003).
  35. Y. J. Jung, B. Wei, R. Vajtai, and P. M. Ajayan, "Mechanism of Selective Growth of Carbon Nanotubes on SiO2/Si Patterns", *Nano Letters,* _3_, 561 (2003).

More information: Dr. Krisztian Kordas

Infotech Oulu Graduate School Courses