[wordup] The Diamond Age?

[Adam Shand]

Via: Morgan Likely <mrorange at spack.org>
From: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20020404wo71.htm

Vodka leads to nanotube breakthrough

Yomiuri Shimbun

A Tokai University research group led by Prof. Yoichi Hirose has succeeded
in synthesizing carbon nanotubes from vodka and whisky with simple
equipment, it was learned recently.

With the successful experiment, it appears possible that the ultrafine
carbon tubes, which currently cost several tens of thousands of yen per
gram, could be produced cheaply and in large quantities in the future.

Hirose's team put an electric heating tube and a nickel sheet in a glass
bottle filled with alcohol vapor. After the tube was heated to about 2,000
C, soot formed on the nickel sheet. Some of the soot formed carbon
nanotubes.

The team then used 96 proof vodka and 54 proof whisky instead of pure
alcohol and successfully recreated a smaller amount of the material.
Nanotubes were not created from mixtures with lower alcohol contents.

The complete process has yet to be explained, but carbon atoms were
probably detached from the alcohol by the heat and made contact with the
metal to form the nanotubes.

Carbon nanotubes were discovered in 1991 by Meijo University Prof. Sumio
Iijima. They measure several nanometers (a nanometer is one-millionth of a
millimeter) in diameter. They are expected to have a wide range of
applications, such as materials for electronic components and fuel storage
material.

Hirose has also synthesized diamonds from alcoholic beverages. The process
was described in high school chemistry textbooks.