Carbon Nanotubes and Nanotechnology for the New Applications in Nuclear Power

The term “nanotechnology” mainly refers more to an order of magnitude then to a specific scientific discipline. The word is used quite generally to mean the visualisation, characterization, production and manipulation of particles smaller than 100 nm. The field of nanotechnology has, however, seen the greatest progress, and some of its products are already available commercially. A nanomaterial is a any material that either contains a certain proportion of nanoparticles or even consists exclusively of them. Specialists distinguish between nanoparticles in general and what are known as nanotubes or buckyballs. Nanoparticles are small particles that arise in the course of miniaturizing any given material, such as gold, carbon or silicate. Nanotubes and buckyballs are specially manufactured particles which do not occur in nature and have a typical crystalline structure. Buckyballs also known as Buckminster Fullerenes, generally consist of exactly 60 carbon atoms, similar in structure to the pentagons and hexagons on football. The term “nanotube“ generally refers to a hollow cylindrical nanoparticle that is nanoscale (1-100 nm) in diameter, but may be much longer. Nanotubes may or may not consist solely of carbon, but in this article only those, consisting entirely of carbon, will be reviewed.