Potential PhD Research Projects 2011 – 2012

Since Iijima discovered carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in 1991, many unique physical and electrical properties of CNTs have gradually been uncovered. CNTs have exceptionally high Youngâ€TMs modulus, stiffness and flexibility, and are electrically conductive with a greater diamagnetic susceptibility than graphite. Carbon nanotubes are pseudo-one-dimensional carbon allotropes of high aspect ratio, high surface area, and excellent material properties. These excellent and unique properties of carbon nanotubes make them attractive to a wide variety of high added value nanotechnology and biotechnology applications, such as composite materials with exceptional mechanical electrical and optical properties, sensors, drug carriers, solar cells and many others. There have been major advances in the availability of carbon nanotubes, both in quality and quantity, which has in turn stimulated the worldwide pursuit of carbon nanotubes for technological applications. Nevertheless, carbon nanotubes (especially SWNTs) are still relatively expensive which is an impediment for developing applications suitable for mass production. One particular issue is that CNTs are often contaminated with catalysts used in fabrication, which leads to defects in the CNTs chiral structure responsible for the unique properties of CNTs. The purpose of this project is to build at UniSA a Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) reactor for the fabrication of CNTs. Immediate goal after construction of the reactor will be optimization of the condition of CNT synthesis, for catalyst free and defect free single-walled and multiple-walled CNTs. The ultimate goal of the project will be application of the synthesized CNTs is solar cells for enhancing their efficiency.