Carbon Nanotubes for Transmission Lines? It Could Happen

Rice University researchers have developed carbon nanotubes hundreds of meters long which they say could be used as electricity transmission lines. The catch is that to make transmission lines researchers will need huge quantities of the metallic nanotubes.

The Rice project, which started in 2001, has after extensive research determined that a process involving a superacid called chlorosulphonic acid can produce well-aligned carbon nanotubes on a large scale. The high conductivity of the metallic nanotubes could offer several benefits. They conduct electricity better than copper, they're lighter and they fail less frequently, according to Matteo Pasquali, a Rice chemical engineering professor.

And while there are currently no good ways to make the vast quantity of the nanotubes needed for transmission lines, recent research has yielded some promising results and a breakthrough could occur in the near future, researchers say.

Carbon nanotubes may in the future provide a significant contribution to Smart Grid technology in other areas as well. MIT researchers have been working to develop supercapacitors and high-capacity batteries that incorporate the nanotubes. Researchers at MIT also are evaluating the possibility of using nanotubes on a much smaller scale, as tiny springs that could be used for energy storage.

   PhysOrg article on transmission line research

   MIT news release