No Arabic abstract
In laboratories, ultrahigh magnetic fields are usually produced with very large currents through superconducting, resistive or hybrid magnets, which require extreme conditions, such as low temperature, huge cooling water or tens of megawatts of power. In this work we report that when single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are cut, there are magnetic moments at the shearing end of SWNTs. The average magnetic moment is found to be 41.5+-9.8uB per carbon atom in the end states with a width of 1 nm at temperature of 300.0K, suggesting ultrahigh magnetic fields can be produced. The dangling sigma and pi bonds of the carbon atoms at the shearing ends play important roles for this unexpectedly high magnetic moments because the oxidation temperature of cut SWNTs is found to be as low as 312 in dry air. Producing ultrahigh magnetic field with SWNTs has the advantage of working at higher working temperature and with low energy consumption, suggesting great potentials of applications.
In high magnetic fields, the exciton absorption spectrum of a semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotube splits as a result of Aharonov-Bohm magnetic flux. A magnetic field of 370 T, generated by the electro-magnetic flux compression destructive pulsed magnet-coil technique, was applied to single-chirality semiconducting carbon nanotubes. Using streak spectroscopy, we demonstrated the separation of the independent band-edge exciton states at the K and K points of the Brillouin zone after the mixing of the dark and bright states above 150 T. These results enable a quantitative discussion of the whole picture of the Aharonov-Bohm effect in single-walled carbon nanotubes.
We have measured the dynamic alignment properties of single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) suspensions in pulsed high magnetic fields through linear dichroism spectroscopy. Millisecond-duration pulsed high magnetic fields up to 56 T as well as microsecond-duration pulsed ultrahigh magnetic fields up to 166 T were used. Due to their anisotropic magnetic properties, SWNTs align in an applied magnetic field, and because of their anisotropic optical properties, aligned SWNTs show linear dichroism. The characteristics of their overall alignment depend on several factors, including the viscosity and temperature of the suspending solvent, the degree of anisotropy of nanotube magnetic susceptibilities, the nanotube length distribution, the degree of nanotube bundling, and the strength and duration of the applied magnetic field. In order to explain our data, we have developed a theoretical model based on the Smoluchowski equation for rigid rods that accurately reproduces the salient features of the experimental data.
We use ab initio total-energy calculations to predict the existence of polarons in semiconducting carbon nanotubes (CNTs). We find that the CNTs band edge energies vary linearly and the elastic energy increases quadratically with both radial and with axial distortions, leading to the spontaneous formation of polarons. Using a continuum model parametrized by the ab initio calculations, we estimate electron and hole polaron lengths, energies and effective masses and analyze their complex dependence on CNT geometry. Implications of polaron effects on recently observed electro- and opto-mechanical behavior of CNTs are discussed.
We propose a simple experiment to explore magnetic fields created by electric railways and compare them with a simple model and parameters estimated using easily available information. A pedestrian walking on an overpass above train tracks registers the components of the magnetic field with the built-in magnetometer of a smartphone. The experimental results are successfully compared with a model of the magnetic field of the transmission lines and the local Earths magnetic field. This experiment, suitable for a field trip, involves several abilities, such as modeling the magnetic field of power lines, looking up reliable information and estimating non-easily accessible quantities.
Here, we report the production of silk incorporating graphene and carbon nanotubes directly by spider spinning, after spraying spiders with the corresponding aqueous dispersions. We observe a significant increment of the mechanical properties with respect to the pristine silk, in terms of fracture strength, Youngs and toughness moduli. We measure a fracture strength up to 5.4 GPa, a Youngs modulus up to 47.8 GPa and a toughness modulus up to 2.1 GPa, or 1567 J/g, which, to the best of our knowledge, is the highest reported to date, even when compared to the current toughest knotted fibres. This approach could be extended to other animals and plants and could lead to a new class of bionic materials for ultimate applications.