and environmentally friendly conductive cables or wires as a replacement for copper. From this view, carbon-based nanomaterial is a potential candidate.Carbon related nanomaterials including fullerenes, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), and graphene are promising due to their exceptional conductive and electronic transport properties, which may accelerate the practical and potential applications for various kinds of novel engineering areas spanning from electronics, energy storage, and advanced materials to nanotechnology and biotechnology. Among the family of carbon nanomaterials, CNTs have been a particularly attractive material since its discovery in 1991 by Iijima, [1] due to their nanoscale 1D shape, excellent mechanical properties, tunable electrical properties either metallic or semiconducting, high current carrying capacity, and many other exciting properties. These properties have highlighted the potential of CNTs use in a plethora of applications, including electrically conductive fillers in polymer composites, flexible and transparent conductive films, microelectronics (transistors, interconnectors, heat dissipaters), and lightweight conducting wires and cables. [2] Figure 1 points out the forecast presented by Endo et al. [3] on the present, near future, and long term applications of CNTs in various fields. An interesting potential application of CNTs is the long-term electrical conductors, which are able to transmit power from plants to plants or households, as well as be used in electronic devices.Compared to conventional copper cables or wires, CNT based cables have several advantages including 1) a lower density of 1.3 g cm −3 for single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) [4] and 2.1 g cm −3 for multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), [5] both of which are much lower than that of copper, 8.96 g cm −3 ; [6] 2) environmental stability, which can stand with severe conditions including high pressure, large temperature changes, etc.; 3) excellent mechanical performance with a Young's modulus and strength in the ranges of 1.0 TPa and 50 GPa, respectively; [7] 4) ultrahigh electrical conductivity as high as 10 8 S m −1 for SWCNTs, which is higher than that of copper (≈10 7 S m −1 )). [8] Furthermore, the limited amount of conventional conductive metal resources in nature and their soaring market price greatly increased the need for a desirable alternative solution that are abundant in nature, low-cost, andThe lack of progress to obtain commercially available large-scale production of continuous carbon nanotube (CNT) fibers has provided the motivation for researchers to develop high-performance bulk CNT assemblies that could more effectively transfer the superb mechanical, electrical, and other excellent properties of individual CNTs. These wire-like bulk assemblies of CNTs have demonstrated the potential for being used as electrical conductors to replace conventional conductive materials, such as copper and aluminum. CNT conductors are extremely lightweight, corrosive-resistive, and mechanically strong while being ...

In 1996 Sir Harold W. Kroto, Robert F. Curl and Richard E. Smalley were honored with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of fullerenes. The advent of these new forms of carbon heralded a race to understand the physical and chemical properties. C 60 is virtually insoluble in polar solvents but is partially soluble in benzene, toluene, and carbon disulfide. This made the processing of fullerenes for new applications fairly problematic. However, the physical and chemical properties of these cage structures may be tailored for a wide range of applications. Some of the difficulties in processing have been overcome by using novel fullerene derivatives. The functionalization of the fullerene core with different chemical moieties provided a vector toward potential applications in drug delivery, optoelectronics, electrochemistry and organic photovoltaics. In this review, we will take a closer look at the features of some of the fullerene derivatives that have reinvigorated the field of fullerene research. Water-soluble polyhydroxylated fullerenes such as fullerenol have demonstrated the potential for good electron transfer and optical transmission, while hydrophobic fullerene derivatives have shown promising avenues for catalytic applications. 2015 marked the 30 th anniversary of the discovery of fullerenes, with celebrations around the world including an event by the Royal Society of Chemistry, bringing together many of Sir Harold Kroto's former students. The event also coincided with the recent discovery of C 60 + in space after a complex twenty-year search. It is with sadness that we, Harry's Research Group at Florida State University, and his international collaborators, reflect on the passing of Sir Harold Kroto. His dedication to science and commitment to science communication through the VEGA Science Trust and the Global Educational Outreach for Science Engineering and Technology (GEOSET) initiative help to raise awareness of the challenges for science in the modern world. We will continue to inspire young students through outreach activities he initiated. Nanostructured carbon materials including fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, graphene and carbon black have the potential to be transformative in many areas from medicine to engineering. Research into carbon nanotubes is diverse in areas such as electrochemical devices, field emission, sensors and probes. [1][2][3][4] Recently, carbon nanotubes have been used as additives in the thermoplastics typically used for 3D printing. 5,6 Graphene is the latest material to have peaked interest in the carbon field in a similar manner to carbon nanotubes, with a range of potential applications.7 Graphene oxide is being explored in the production of 3D holographic images. 8The famous paper in Nature, C60:Buckminsterfullerene, 9 introduced the world to the new form of carbon but the road to general acceptance at that time was difficult, even with mounting evidence in support of the discovery. The paper, now cited over 10,000 times has become the central point of referen...

3D printing is a revolutionary technology for the consumer and industrial markets. As the technology for 3D printing has expanded, the need for multi-materials that support fused deposition modeling and other forms of additive manufacturing is increasing. 3D printing filaments infused with carbon nanotubes and graphene are now commercially available, with the promise of producing conductive composites. This chapter explores some of the research, products, and challenges involved in bringing the next generation of functional printing materials to the consumer market.

An interest in the on-purpose production of 1,3-butadiene (1,3-BD) has grown, as a consequence of the decline in naphtha cracking for the production of ethene and propene, products that can now be produced economically by thermal dehydrogenation of ethane and propane contained in natural gas. In this study, the mechanism and kinetics of n-butane dehydrogenation to 1,3-BD are explored over atomically distributed Pt sites grafted onto dealuminated zeolite BEA (DeAlBEA) in the form of (Si–O–Zn)4–6Pt complexes. Reaction of n-butane dehydrogenation carried out at 823 K with 2.53 kPa n-butane/He and a weight-hourly space velocity (WHSV) of 14.5 h–1 produced 1,3-BD with a turnover frequency of 0.45 mol 1,3-BD (mol Pt)−1 s–1. Space-time studies and identification of the reaction intermediates suggest that n-butane first undergoes dehydrogenation primarily to 1-butene, which then rapidly isomerizes to produce an equilibrated mixture of 1-butene and 2-butene. 1-Butene then undergoes secondary dehydrogenation to produce 1,3-BD. We report, here, a detailed study of the kinetics of n-butane dehydrogenation to butenes and 1-butene dehydrogenation to 1,3-BD over isolated Pt sites. Both reactions exhibit a Langmuir–Hinshelwood dependence on n-butane and 1-butene partial pressures, respectively. Comparison of effective forward rate constants of n-butane dehydrogenation to butenes (k 1f) and butene dehydrogenation to 1,3-BD (k 2f) shows that the isolated Pt sites grafted onto DeAlBEA exhibit a very high activity for sequential dehydrogenation of n-butane to 1,3-BD relative to other Pt-based catalysts previously reported.