Among all known materials, we found that a forest of vertically aligned single-walled carbon nanotubes behaves most similarly to a black body, a theoretical material that absorbs all incident light. A requirement for an object to behave as a black body is to perfectly absorb light of all wavelengths. This important feature has not been observed for real materials because materials intrinsically...

The time evolution of the growth process of vertically aligned single-walled carbon nanotubes (or V-SWNTs) on a flat substrate was examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), resonant Raman spectroscopy, and angle-resolved X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES). This detailed characterization gives evidence for the growth of a thin layer (crust) of randomly oriented single-walled carb...

A new technology called capillary forming enables transformation of vertically aligned nanoscale filaments into complex three-dimensional microarchitectures. We demonstrate capillary forming of carbon nanotubes into diverse forms having intricate bends, twists, and multidirectional textures. In addition to their novel geometries, these structures have mechanical stiffness exceeding that of micr...

The growth process of vertically aligned single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) films was investigated by means of in situ optical analysis and scanning electron microscopy. The measurements reveal that the growth of the SWNT film decreases after longer reaction times. This decrease is attributed to a combination of a diminishing growth rate and burning of the SWNTs due to oxygen in the growth ch...

We carry out axisymmetric, finite deformation finite element analyses of the uniaxial compression of cylindrical bundles of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNTs) firmly attached to a Si substrate. A compressible elastic–viscoplastic constitutive relation with a piecewise, linear hardening–softening–hardening flow strength is used to model the material. Calculations are performed for VACN...

We report the low-temperature growth of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs) at high growth rates by a photo-thermal chemical vapour deposition (PTCVD) technique using a Ti/Fe bilayer film as the catalyst. The bulk growth temperature of the substrate is as low as 370 °C and the growth rate is up to 1.3 µm min(-1), at least eight times faster than the values reported by traditional thermal...

A field emission vacuum switch using vertically aligned carbon nanotubes grown by a direct current plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition is reported. Cathodes with optimized field emission properties were evaluated in diode configuration as a test vehicle for the construction of a vacuum power three terminal triode device. Limiting factors such as space charge effects involved with high cur...