Researchers create superconducting nanotubes

from the cold-current- dept.
United Press International reports researchers in Hong Kong have created one-dimensional, single-walled carbon nanotubes that posses superconducting traits, adding to their potential to become the basis of a new generation of ultra-tiny electronics. Z.K. Tang and Ping Sheng, physicists at the Institute of Nanoscience and Technology at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, led a research team that showed single isolated nanotubes can be superconductive. Furthermore, the tubes were one-dimensional. They report on the discovery in 29 June 2001 issue of Nature.
"The isolated, highly aligned and very small diameter — around four angstroms or about the width of four atoms — nanotubes demonstrate a transition to superconducting behavior around 15 degrees Kelvin, a much higher temperature than for superconductivity observed in nanotube bundles," according to a summary of the research.