A technology called RINSE (Removal of Incubated Nanotubes through Selective Exfoliation) is demonstrated. RINSE removes carbon nanotube (CNT) aggregates in CNFETs without compromising CNFET performance. In RINSE, CNTs are deposited on a substrate, coated with a thin adhesive layer, and sonicated. The adhesive layer is strong enough to keep the individual CNTs on the substrate, but not the larger CNT aggregates. When combined with a CNFET CMOS process as disclosed here, record CNFET CMOS yield and uniformity can be realized.

The invention pertains to a process for the production of crystalline carbon structure networks in a reactor 3 which contains a reaction zone 3b and a termination zone 3c, by injecting a thermodynamically stable micro-emulsion c, comprising metal catalyst nanoparticles, into the reaction zone 3b which is at a temperature of above 600° C., preferably above 700° C., more preferably above 900° C., even more preferably above 1000° C., more preferably above 1100° C., preferably up to 3000° C., more preferably up to 2500° C., most preferably up to 2000° C., to produce crystalline carbon structure networks e, transferring these networks e to the termination zone 3c,and quenching or stopping the formation of crystalline carbon structure networks in the termination zone by spraying in water d.

High quality, catalyst-free boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) that are long, flexible, have few wall molecules and few defects in the crystalline structure, can be efficiently produced by a process driven primarily by Direct Induction. Secondary Direct Induction coils, Direct Current heaters, lasers, and electric arcs can provide additional heating to tailor the processes and enhance the quality of the BNNTs while reducing impurities. Heating the initial boron feed stock to temperatures causing it to act as an electrical conductor can be achieved by including refractory metals in the initial boron feed stock, and providing additional heat via lasers or electric arcs. Direct Induction processes may be energy efficient and sustainable for indefinite period of time. Careful heat and gas flow profile management may be used to enhance production of high quality BNNT at significant production rates.

Disclosed is a preparation method for corncob-shaped HNT-PANI/PP, specifically comprising: polymerizing aniline in situ on cleaned HNTs in an ice-water bath; mixing corncob-shaped HNT-PANI composite powder obtained by vacuum drying and PP plastic in a high-speed mixer in a certain ratio, performing extrusion granulation by using a twin-screw extruder, and performing injection molding by using an injection molding machine to prepare standard sample strips of an HNT-PANI/PP composite material. The corncob-shaped HNT-PANI composite material prepared according to the present invention has excellent electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity and flame retardance, the mechanical properties of the composite material can be improved, electrical and flame-retardant properties of PP engineering materials can be improved, and thus the application field of PP is greatly broadened.

The present disclosure relates to a composition that includes a film having a network of randomly aligned carbon nanotubes, where the carbon nanotubes have an average diameter between about 0.6 nm and about 2.0 nm and the carbon nanotubes form bundles having an average diameter between about 3 nm and about 50 nm. In addition, the composition is characterized by a power factor α.sup.2σ between 1 μW/mK.sup.2 and about 3500 μW/mK.sup.2 and by ZT=α.sup.2σT/k between about 0.02 and about 2.0 over a temperature range between about 100 K and about 500 K.

A nanostructured material includes carbon nanoparticles (CNPs), such as carbon nanotube particles (CNTs) or carbon nanofiber particles (CNFs), intercalated by intercalation nanoparticles (INPs), such as halloysite nanoparticles (HNPs), in a base material, such as a polymer. A method for making the nanostructured material includes the steps of: providing a mixture of carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) having a selected composition; providing intercalation nanoparticles (INPs) configured to intercalate the carbon nanoparticles (CNPs); intercalating the carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) by mixing the intercalation nanoparticles (INPs) in a selected CNP:HNP ratio to form an intercalated material; and combining the intercalated material in a base material in a selected concentration with the base material providing a matrix for the intercalated material.

Disclosed herein are processes for purifying as-synthesized boron nitride nanotube (BNNT) material to remove impurities of boron, amorphous boron nitride (a-BN), hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) nanocages, h-BN nanosheets, and carbon-containing compounds. The processes include heating the BNNT materials at different temperatures in the presence of inert gas and a hydrogen feedstock or in the presence of oxygen.

The present disclosure relates to a green method for producing and exploiting multiple nano-carbon polymorphs from coal commonly known as anthracite, meta-anthracite, and semi-graphite. The method disrupts the prevalent environmentally unfriendly practices of burning coal with poor profitability and sustainability because the method yields an unexpectedly rich mixture of high-performance nano-materials, comprising carbon nano-fibers, carbon nano-tubes, carbon nano-onions, nano-graphite-plates, and nano-graphene-disks, by simply mechanically-comminuting coal to nano-size, with minimal sorting efforts. The resulting total-yield of nano-carbon polymorphs is over 50% by weight from properly selected coal. Innovative means are added to the prevalent comminution and sorting practices to further reduce energy and chemical consumption. More importantly, the method also refines the comminution and sorting details for producing the best custom-made formulations. This holistic engineering approach eliminates unnecessary separation and sorting steps because a custom-made formulation typically requires blending the sorted components. Formulations with mixed nano-carbon polymorphs are engineered as new and high-valued-added composite ingredients to critically raise the performance of cement-based, polymer-based, and metal-based composites.

A carbon nanotube array constituted by large numbers of carbon nanotubes vertically aligned on a substrate is produced by supplying a carbon source gas into a reaction vessel having a hydrogen gas atmosphere, in which a substrate on which a reaction catalyst comprising fine metal particles is formed is placed; forming large numbers of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes on the substrate by keeping a reaction temperature of 500-1100° C. for 0.5-30 minutes; and heat-treating the carbon nanotubes by stopping the supply of the carbon source gas and keeping 400-1100° C. for 0.5-180 minutes in a non-oxidizing atmosphere.

A carbon nanotube aggregate includes a plurality of carbon nanotubes, a metal compound, and an oxide of the metal compound. The metal compound is contained in a space inside of each of the carbon nanotubes and/or in a space defined between the plurality of carbon nanotubes. When the metal compound is added inside the carbon nanotube aggregate, the metal compound is oxidized by reacting with oxygen or the like during or after a production process of the CNT aggregate, and the oxide is formed in the opening of the space to which the metal compound is added, so that the metal compound is capped with the oxide. Since the metal compound inside the CNT aggregate is shielded from the atmosphere, separation of the metal compound and reaction between the metal compound and oxygen and water in the atmosphere are suppressed, increasing heat resistance of the carbon nanotube aggregate.