Carbon nanotubes for power applications

Carbon nanotubes have been found to possess a wide variety of extremely remarkable properties, most notably high electrical and thermal conductivity, mechanical strength, and catalytic surface area. These properties imbue carbon nanotubes with tremendous potential for a variety of power generation and storage devices including: lithium-ion (Li+) batteries, polymeric solar cells, proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells, and thermionic power devices. A review of the key issues surrounding synthesis, characterization, and processing of carbon nanotubes in relation to device fabrication will be highlighted. Results on a variety of prototype devices which are being developed by the NanoPower Research Laboratories (NPRL) at RIT in collaboration with researchers at the NASA Glenn Research Center will be presented.