Well now, if you think those intricate clay micro-structures you’ve squeezed out through your teeth are amazing, you’re going to love this. Up till now it’s been nearly impossible to create complex 3-dimensional carbon nano-shapes, partly from the limitation in the process of creating them and partly from the hexagonal structure of the fullerene molecules in the material. In some of the coolest engineering and manufacturing news this year, that problem has been solved.
A. John Hart, an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and in the University of Michigan School of Art & Design created a process to shape the wee molecular structures. By using non-traditional 2D profiles and a clever trick with condensating acetone he was able to form the carbon nanotubes into a variety of shapes.
He uses the traditional “chemical vapor deposition” process to grow the nanotubes in the prescribed patterns. Then he suspends the silicon wafer with its nanotube forest over a beaker of a boiling solvent, such as acetone. He lets the acetone condense on the nanotubes, and then lets the acetone evaporate.
As the liquid condenses, capillary action forces kick in and transform the vertical nanotubes into the intricate three-dimensional structures. For example, tall half-cylinders of nanotubes bend backwards to form a shape resembling a three-dimensional flower.
“We program the formation of 3D shapes with these 2D patterns,” Hart said. “We’ve discovered that the starting shape influences how the capillary forces change the structures’ geometry. Some bend, others twist, and we can combine them any way we want.”
This is some incredible advancement for the tiny nanotubes tech. (Nanotube are approximately 1/50,000th of the width of a human hair(1)) With this, engineers are no longer limited to simple, straight sections, there’s great potential for this to extend their use in structural materials, in medical devices, and electronic devices. It could even increase the possibility of using them to create synthetic muscle, body armor or heck, even direct interfaces between us and computers.
(1) More on Carbon nanotube (CNT) technology.


Source: University of Michgan