Page 113 - Nanotechnology an introduction

tin oxide-based conducting glass technology. Carbon nanotube-doped polymers are therefore attractive for organic photovoltaic solar cells and
other optoelectronic devices.
Others
Potentially larger volume applications are constructing electrochemical capacitors, and in very large-scale integrated electronic circuits (e.g., as
connectors between components, especially vertical ones (“vias”) to connect stacked layers). In some of these other applications, however, notably
supercapacitors, existing materials (e.g., the much cheaper carbon black) already offer performance close to the theoretical limit. More promising
are logic components based entirely on carbon nano-objects, such as single electron tunneling transistors (Section 7.4.3) made entirely from
graphene.
9.5. Summary
Buckminsterfullerene, the single walled carbon nanotube and graphene epitomize, respectively, nanoparticles, nanofibers and nanoplates. The full
potential of their remarkable properties, especially electronic ones, in devices will, however, have to await the development of viable nano-object
manipulation technologies. Progress in the field of carbon nanomaterials is rapid. One of the latest developments is tough composites
incorporating graphene fragments rather than carbon nanotubes—the former not only bond better to the matrix but also intercept cracks more
effectively.
9.7 Further Reading
An, K.H.; Lee, Y.H., Electronic-structure engineering of carbon nanotubes, NANO: Brief Rep. Rev. 1 (2006) 115–138.
Arikawa, M., Fullerenes—an attractive nano carbon material and its production technology, Nanotechnol. Percept. 2 (2006); 121–114.
Boscovic, B.O., Carbon nanotubes and nanofibers, Nanotechnol. Percept. 3 (2007) 141–158.
Kumar, M.; Ando, Y., Carbon nanotube synthesis and growth mechanism, Nanotechnol. Percept. 6 (2010) 7–28.
Rafiee, M.A.; et al., Fracture and fatigue in graphene nanocomposites, Small 6 (2010) 179–183.
Wang, Z.F.; Zheng, H.; Shi, Q.W.; Chen, J., Emerging nanodevice paradigm: graphene-based electronics for nanoscale computing, ACM J.
Emerging Technol. Comput. Syst. 5 (2009); no. 1, article 3.