Theoretical studies of doped carbon nanotube-based materials

Abstract

For the last fifteen years, carbon nanotubes have piqued the interest of many in the materials research community, due to their superlative individual characteristics. One possible route to their technological exploitation may lie through utilising their interactions with other materials. Proposed uses for nanotubes, which depend crucially on their behaviour when exposed to such foreign substances, variously include use as sensors, as interconnects in electronic devices, as non-conventional transistor elements, as conductive agents in non-conductive plastics, as hydrogen storage devices and as components in super-tough fibres, capable of being used in light-weight body armour. In each case of crucial im portance is the detailed interaction that occurs between the nanoscopic carbon cylinders and other materials.