Revisiting How Carbon Nanotubes Will Change Renewable Energy

[@UndecidedMF]

Do you think this type of tech is going to make a difference in the renewable market? Or do you think CNTs have still been overpromised and will never deliver? Thanks again to Cometeer for partnering with me today! Don’t forget to check them out cometeer.com/undecided to find out more about the Future of Coffee. If you liked this video, check out Revisiting the Supercapacitor - The Wait for Graphene is Over here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qajHqnp-q9KLrZI

[@matttzzz2]

1st

[@bernardthedisappointedowl6938]

I feel I should point out Matt that I'm mainly here for the relentless puns, ^oo^

[@PAIP_Studio]

Like in 3D printing, Carbon Nanotubes will take off only when all the patents expire. Most universities that hold the patents are smothering the technology preventing business deals from being made and preventing competing scientists from working with one another.

[@Kiboxxx]

cometeer links seems to be broken

[@thesilentone4024]

It might help but depending on how its made and used.

[@DirtyTesla]

Tried using CNT almost 10 years ago for antigen detection. Attach antibodies to CNT, measure conductance. Run sample through CNT solution. Measure conductance again. If it changed, antigen was detected. Project didn't move very far though. They were a bit scary to work with as they were incredibly fine and you had to be careful not to breath them in ala asbestos :S

[@JamesBrown-uv4sn]

Wrote a short paper in college theorizing using them to detect glucose in urine, so people could have a device in their toilet measuring glucose levels and tell the user if it is too high, to alert them to get tested by a doctor for diabetes.

[@whoknew4722]

CNT use for measurement/diagnostic purposes would depend on the ratio between quantity/mass of analyte (antigen, glucose, etc.) vs. mass of the CNT-matrix (or CNT-complex). Only by keeping this ratio high (much higher analyte mass) would it provide good sensitivity. Also, I suspect using antigen-antibody binding would raise a specificity problem: of non-specific bindings that would give false signal. Were you able to accurately quantify the _change in conductance_ for a single antibody-CNT structure?

[@nolan4339]

Graphene wires as a copper alternative would be a huge breakthrough. These steps bringing us closer to carbon based electronics will open up so many new avenues.

[@Leon_Schuit]

Not only does it allow for better conductivity, imagine a cable that doesn't break! That'd be awesome

[@brandongeertson7346]

This is a great idea, except the weakness of nanotubes is likely splicing. A bad joint would result in an inferior cabel

[@KnightsWithoutATable]

Lower weight wires for motors and transformers would be a huge improvement.

[@uday20101]

tought that too

[@brandongeertson7346]

@@tarstarkusz don't forget that one of those pipe dreams was mobile phones. Yesterday's pipe dream could be today's innovation and tomorrow's future

[@dougvalmore7389]

"hollow grail" - nice! This (much like Fusion power) has been 5 years away for decades. But materials science has been making amazing strides faster & faster - much hope for the future!

[@stephennielsen8722]

Makes sense. Tiny scale materials science has an iteration rate that is impossible for large scale fusion to compete with. Kurzweil predicted as much

[@technophant]

I thought it was a mistake. good pun

[@Rem_NL]

How Flux Capacitors Will Change Interdimentional Time Travel

[@stephennielsen8722]

@@Rem_NL If it was time travel we’d have a bunch of problems to deal with. This is just advanced chemistry. Remember, without a single thought the simplest microscopic algae somehow stumbled upon how to capture, then store solar energy 3 billion years ago. We just need to do a little reverse engineering and enhancement

[@scratchy996]

Can't wait for my carbon nanotube fusion generator to be delivered, so I can power up my teleporter. I ordered them 5 years ago, they should arrive any minute now.

[@Hooyahfish]

I’ve literally been waiting for graphene to take over the world for 12 years. Excuse me if I’m not more excited. Bring on the graphene revolution already!

[@jeremylaplace9036]

I really hope that this tech takes off. I'm building fuel cell based micro grids and have been wrestling with what to do with the waste heat for a while

[@punkdigerati]

Could use ORC for heat reclamation

[@ferfromla]

The work being done on CNT is of great significance. It will take time, but sooner or later, a team of brilliant scientists will find a way to scale up production so that it can be used by all of us. Of particular interest to me is their role in making solar panels highly efficient. I encourage you to keep us all informed on developments in this space. Thanks for the video. I found the information fascinating.

[@westganton]

My buddy is a research scientist at MTU focusing on acoustic applications for CNT. When you run current through this stuff, it vibrates, which allows you to make speakers in effectively any shape. Very versatile and exciting tech

[@mnomadvfx]

@@westganton So what you're saying is CNT's can have piezoelectric uses then? Not that it matters much. MEMS speakers are the way forward - hopefully we get them before the decade is out.

[@paulferguson8764]

@@mnomadvfx Yes CNTs have piezoelectric uses. For example, the Center for Advanced Construction Materials at Univ of Texas Austin is working on Smart Concrete using CNTs.

[@paulferguson8764]

I say sooner. In fact it's here. A method using technology that is proven to scale into the thousands of tons/year is in commercial use today to produce MWCNTs. True mass production of SWCNTs continues to be challenging, imo. Applications like transparent heaters are making their debut and will become a de facto standard, imo. The heaters using CNTs for headlamp enclosures, for example, are delivering excellent performance at a competitive cost. Watch this space.

[@DougalNorges]

Extremely interesting, thanks Matt. The beginning hit the nail on the head, can this be industrialized, or will it only ever be created in university labs. As with many technologies you cover, if it scales up, this could be extremely interesting.

[@stuartburns8657]

Always find this channel interesting, but I struggle to recall if anything ever went 'mainstream' Would be nice if once or twice a year he did follow ups on the topics

[@VanDerPol]

Such ground breaking innovations often take decades until they reach mass market. Hopefully, increased processing power, AI and quantum-computing speed such things up in the future.

[@UndecidedMF]

We have a new series where we revisit past topics (like this video), so stay tuned for more :)

[@stuartburns8657]

@@UndecidedMF Brilliant, looking forward to that great news 😀 👍

[@knightfamily8124]

I would really love a channel that just deals with tech that has actually made it to market...instead all we see on youtube is 'maybe someday' tech

[@cmw3737]

Nanotechnology as a whole has been under the radar for years after being hyped in the 90s. Good to see some news on the graphene tube front at least.

[@UndecidedMF]

Maybe its finally here, time will tell!

[@mnomadvfx]

Nanotechnology is in every phone, tablet and computer in general made for more than the last decade or two - since transistors were shrunk to sub micron geometries and reached the nanoscale. Nanotech has nothing to do with materials but how they are implemented. Also the photoluminiscent quantum dots used in monitor/TV displays for the last several years are an example of nanotechnology, as are all the solid state memory chips currently in use, and likely some modern digital camera sensor chips too (not certain about the last one).

[@paulferguson8764]

@@mnomadvfx I wouldn't go as far as saying that nanotech has nothing to do with materials, but I absolutely agree that how they are implemented makes all the difference. For example, in conductive polymers, you will not get the properties you want from CNT's if they are not properly dispersed.

[@timothyhickox8189]

This reminds me of all the decades of development that went into flat-screen technology (to replace CRTs). We take thin, flat screens for granted today and forget that getting these things into production was a massive achievement. I design IC engines, and any practical way to could utilize some of the waste heat would be a great step forward. Of course, the applications of this tech seem limitless.

[@mercerconsulting9728]

There was a Scientific American article on flat screen technology way back March 1993; no one knew quite when or how flat screens would be developed. I waited anxiously for years to see it happen.

[@dianapennepacker6854]

Or blue LEDs. Look at where solar is now compared to what it was. Took ages. Tech can sometimes take a while to take off. Yet once it does it soars.

[@ManyHeavens42]

I said it first two years ago that was revolutionized the world and robotics But your a man after my own heart, birds of a feather !!!!

[@MarcoGPUtuber]

0:15 For a speedy transition to a carbon-free future, we must use more carbon. :D

[@alexmaclean1]

Agreed, carbon may cause a lot of trouble when we fill the air with too much, but carbon has been the building block of basically all known life, and its likely to also be the way out of a lot of many of our problems once we discover the answers.

[@kevinbusker3634]

I was going to make the same comment. 😆

[@kaitlyn__L]

It always bugged me that CO2 pollution was referred to colloquially as “carbon”. “Carbon-free farming”, for instance, is a total nonsequitur when taken literally, as the plants are made up largely of carbon. But as a substitution for “carbon dioxide emission free farming” then it actually means something.

[@Real_MisterSir]

The thing people tend to overlook is that carbon nanotubes (and graphene as a whole by extension) was never overhyped. The actual issue is that too many people expected to see the full scope of said hype material happen instantly. It's not the fault of the technology's potential, but rather the limitation of bringing it out of the labs at a pace that was high enough to meet people's hungry demand for new age tech progression. But if we look at the raw stats, graphene and carbon nanotubes have seen not just a steady climb, but an exponential one. 2 decades ago, they were still lab theories. 15 years ago, the theory was once and for all proven to be true. And just less than a decade later, the research industry specializing in graphene saw global multi-billion dollar funding from multi-nation government agencies. And less than a decade ago it started to see actual commercial use for the first time. And the key point here is, that not at any point has the development for the technology been stagnant. It has never plateaued - clearly indicating that there is indeed a strong future for it. It just goes to show that the main aspect holding the technology back, is still simply the economic side of upscaling production - which is the state we are in. Once production reaches a point where it becomes commercially viable for multiple industries to tech into it, THAT is when the hype actually starts to see some of it's promises come true. Real innovation typically only comes after a technology has proven commercially stable, and we are getting closer and closer to that break point.

[@mpetersen6]

I think of it as the Popular Machanics/Science effect. The futurist GHarry Stine once said that you should never believe the cover of Popular Mechanics. Magazine writers hear about the potential usefulness of a new material and then give the impression it ready for prime time.

[@DeadDad1]

I really love your videos as they are always extremely well done and strike the perfect balance between providing enough information and keeping the length of the video reasonable for the short attention spans we all seem to have.

[@Srfingfreak]

Hi, Nanotube researcher here (Papers and Patents). 1) NOT Biocompatible. Bio-killscellsbypokingthemdirectly, the opposite. 2) Heat manipulation is something nanotubes are GREAT at due to their lots and lots of inter-atomic bonding being able to pick up thermal energy. Also their bulk composites typically have incredibly high surface areas and wonderful albedos 3) Note - on the "flow of electrons" - don't forget that really you're just propagating more energetic EMF wave fronts, not electrons themselves. That's WHY the thermoelectric effect work - otherwise you'd run out of electrons in the nanotubes! 4) Doping Nanotubes is super awesome because basically any time you "tickle" the thing you dope the nanotube with, you propagate an EMF wavefront into the nanotube that can be captured as energy. Cl for chemical stuff, TiO2 for solar, bio-things for bio-sensors, etc... 5) One nifty way to isolate sizes/chiralities of CNT is to make an emulsion with a surfactant, then do a foam separation/settling operation. The different sizes/chiralities of nanotubes bond to the surfactant differently and therefore create different "molecular" densities of suspended particles. Overall this is one of the best CNT videos I've seen on KZbin yet, great work!

[@nicholasn.2883]

Do you think there's potential for a microplastics situation? Are we going to coat the world in nano-tubes and poison everything?

[@kaitlyn__L]

Even just the power cables present a large opportunity without being strictly speaking technologically revolutionary. Not having to mine-up copper, aluminium, etc to make power lines and being able to use carbon instead would have a huge sustainability boost. Especially since Direct Air Carbon Capture is much more economically viable as an industrial carbon source, rather than operating them as a charity to sequester. “We pulled your power lines from thin air” could be an advertising slogan for the first company to do this.

[@mitchellmartin4580]

Have you ever taken a look at Stuart Licht and his company C2CNT? He's been trying to commercialize a process where the carbon is directly absorbed into molten salts from either the air or flue gas and electrolyzed into carbon nanotubes. There's a pilot project running with Capital Power right now- you can even get exposure to C2CNT because Capital Power owns an equity stake and stock options in C2CNT.

[@lucidmoses]

Always good to get an over all update. I've not been following it regularly as I feel it's one of those amazing developments that's somewhere between 1 to 1000 years away.

[@Psychx_]

Regarding your sponsor: Did you know that getting the liquid nitrogen for flash freezing the coffee, transporting a frozen liquid instead of dry beans, aswell as recycling aluminium do all have a massive carbon footprint associated with them? This is honestly highly problematic.

[@Gecko2305]

While I’m not a fan of accusing without actually data, intuitively this seems absolutely worth having another look! Good thinking Psychx!

[@vermeerasia]

Good points Psychx, but sponsor money is hard to find and sometimes a content producer might have to compromise a bit. Personally I find this coffee concept totally absurd and it seems to be a solution searching for a problem that doesn't exist (I mean, how hard is it to pour hot water over ground coffee?) but if it supports good content, at least some good has come of it.

[@Psychx_]

@@Gecko2305 You can look it up. Compressing and separating air consumes tremendous amounts power due to how much volume of gas needs to be processed to get a tiny bit of liquid. The process also involves a heat pump to cool down the compressed gas… Transport emissions should be pretty self explanatory (imagine being able to load a truck with only 1000 cups of coffee instead of 10000 while actually being heavier and needing active cooling throughout because it has to be kept frozen). Aluminium does a thing where you have to keep blasting it with energy, but it doesn't rise in temperature because all of that energy is consumed to change the state of matter from solid to liquid. Likewise all of that energy is lost as process heat when cooling the freshly poured aluminium, because it will just keep radiating heat and not drop in temperature until it turns solid again.

[@namenloss730]

Matt is not scientifically literate so I doubt he knows or cares

[@sedwarg]

This man made a video on solid hydrogen on disks, do you honestly think he cares about the truth, or about views?

[@MarkBarrett]

Converting waste heat to electricity would be huge!

[@clavo3352]

What an honor to have Matt ask you, "What do you think?" It's a mushroom cloud of thought Matt! Geesh the possibilities are endless. How many hobbled soldiers and laypeople would love to add meaning to their lives by contributing to such endeavors of the mechanical and chemical and electrical aspects and developmental parameters of innovating around CNTs and graphene in general? The opportunity is staring us in the face yet the conflict of financial interests between the educational industrial University sponsors of this education and the general public will hold us back. The mass production is solved within weeks of educating the important part of our age demographic from 14 to 75 years of age. Retired chemists and electrical engineers and mechanics hold a ton of accessible knowledge and wisdom.

[@justinpeterburford]

Dr. Tour has done amazing things at Rice university. Great video.

[@bartroberts1514]

Pane glass had similar difficulties with commercialization. We can hope graphene has similar successes; though faster than the millennia it took glass would be nice.

[@Patiboke]

A while ago LCD screens were expensive, because part of them had dead pixels, they had to be thrown away, jacking up the price of the sellable ones. Now everyone has a cheap LCD screen without dead pixels. I hope it will be the same for nanotubes, fusion, etc., and it probably will.

[@RobertLBarnard]

I can imaging an aircraft taking advantage of all the things you've talked about here. Using the high thermal and electrical conductivity to shield a craft from lightning strike, distribute battery current to ESC's and motors, and the high strength to build the structure. Waste heat from motors, ESC's, and batteries could be reused in a cabin or payload or turned back into electrical impulse. Even the wings could capture a bit of energy from sunlight (perhaps enough in certain applications, certainly not for most).

[@RulgertGhostalker]

speaking of lightning protection...that might help a little? how? ..the real problem is the INDUCTANCE, because lightning is an Ultra High Frequency Pulse DC Transient....Xl=2PiFL

[@RobertLBarnard]

@@RulgertGhostalker You're right, Eric. Good catch. I guess I was thinking more of the reduction of resistive generated heat generated comparing aluminum to carbon graphite (and carbon graphite's affinity for water, which turns to steam when carbon graphite receives a jolt). Okay, so it wouldn't make a Faraday cage, but it may also not become black popcorn either.

[@RulgertGhostalker]

@@RobertLBarnard my lightning protection studies involve buildings and sail boats.. i don't think i could ever justify the cost of a private aircraft, so i don't study it, and have no idea....but it's the Field generated around the conductor, that chokes high frequency current, not the ampacity of the conductor itself, in that situation..

[@RobertLBarnard]

@@RulgertGhostalker Very cool! Okay, so you would be primed to read about the research NASA and Stoddard-Hamilton did on an advanced/high performance kit/homebuilt some years ago. Look up document ID "20020080124" on NASA's NTRS citations. The effects of EMP become secondary when you lose a wing and/or part of your tail feathers. But its would be a nice-to-have so you can broadcast to the authorities where to send the investigators and cleanup truck. With an aircraft, especially one build of a composite containing a substantial amount of semiconductor (carbon, I believe has exactly 4 electrons in the valance band....I'd have to double check, maybe you can correct me). This, as I'm sure you know, makes it a poor conductor and a poor insulator, but a great transducer to heat (many of the old-school resistors are made from carbon. You know, the ones with color bands coded with the saying, "Young Boys Rap....But Violet Gives Willingly". Because of microcracking in the composites matrix (the epoxy, aka thermal-set plastic binding the fibers together in a composite), atmospheric moisture can eventually permeate the carbon (carbon and water absolutely love each other and its against nature to keep them separate for long). Unlike iron and oxygen, the small amount of water bound to the carbon is not usually of much concern. But within a millisecond, it does become a concern when the carbon is flash heated as it finds itself providing a path from ground in some arc induced plasma chain. The resulting and rapid expansion of steam and out-gasing of the matrix material will cause a quick and profound separation of the weave/cloth and matrix material, resulting in loss of structural integrity. Since it is the pilot's primary responsibility to "fly the plane", this becomes challenging because of the likely asymmetrical configuration of the airframe and wings, as two or more of the five control surfaces have departed or are literally hanging in the breeze. A bit about me: I'm an old EE (now fintech software engineer) who's been involved in a few airplane "projects" from my dad's ultralight to all of Boeing's commercial (700 series) aircraft. I've also logged a few hours in my pilots logbook, but its been a while. I do own (and have been known to work on) several hundred handmade aluminum (T6061) parts that someday may become an airplane, a bit of a machine shop, and a fair bit of an electronics lab with SMT capabilities.

[@RulgertGhostalker]

@@RobertLBarnard you have a Machine Shop ? Ooooh... but hey, watch out for the galvanic corrosion potentials between those aluminum parts and your composites too. my mom worked at Alan-Bradley in Milwaukee, so i have known about resistors since a very early age... in my sail boat design, i ditched the conventional rudder...sailboats have to constantly apply rudder to hold tack, And That's Drag.. so i replaced the rudder function with two 9-phase prop M/Gs and a micro-controller "fly by wire" type core system, for a "Robo-Rudder" that also replaces the auto helm and provides all manner of unique solo-sail advantages, ( point windward,, acel & decel to hold coarse at trim on apparent wind,, hold position,, tack and gybe delay time,, ect. ) but also would have a manual joy stick mode, of course.. anyway, the "rudder" Re-Gen drag current is available to proportion as thrust on the other side ... so when the battery bank is full, that's when my sailboat will really start kickin'...and it is going to be fast as it is... probably fast enough to sail from the east coat to Europe in about 2 weeks on average; while generating all the power needed for cooking, refrigeration, ventilation, lighting, ect... it's a center tap sea grounded 24Volt system that would charge from dead, at a slip, in about 4 hours... i have to shield all the electronics from EMP, of course, but i wouldn't lose a wing or aileron.. i have a new type of sail rig, and a new type of hull, with it too ... Very Fast, for a 7 Meter deep blue...but it's only a deep blue because it's a storm runner, that has a very light weight, and very sea worthy design.. it's a performance "Micro-Yacht"..

[@Infernoblade1010]

Man, I remember hearing about this in middle school and to see the incredible advancements has blown my mind. The possibilities are almost endless with this technology.

[@andrewcbartlett]

Thank you for making your excellent videos. I'll watch it now!

[@davestagner]

My favorite application for carbon nanotubes for renewable energy so far has been Prometheus Fuels. Their tech is pretty straightforward, really… catalyze alcohol from carbonic acid (carbonated water, easy to make with just a waterfall and a fan), separate the alcohol from the water, and then use a zeolite catalyst to convert the alcohol into gasoline and jet fuel. Their “secret sauce’” is a carbon nanotube filter that separates alcohol from water - essentially, hi tech reverse osmosis. This gets away from the high temperatures and pressures (and massive energy consumption) of distillation. Their whole system is room temperature, plumbed with ordinary PVC and rubber gaskets. It’s around 50% efficient at synthesizing gasoline from atmospheric CO2, and can be powered by solar electricity because it doesn’t need to run 24/7 like a distillation plant. And it’s working tech… they’re well funded and working on scaling, not just doing lab experiments. This is especially cool because it offers a path to clean operation of long-lived combustion engines like jets and trucks.

[@TomMcinerney-g9b]

Thank you, Dave Stagner !

[@ScottRedstone]

I first heard about lasers in elementary school. They were magic. Goldfinger tried to cut James Bind in half using one. I have. Co2 laser in my shop for cutting things. A hand held one for amusing my cat. One in a jigsaw to guide cuts. This is 45 yrs after Goldfinger. NanoTubes will become a household reality in the same way. I still have doubts about cold fusion.

[@ilyashick3178]

Interesting point of home laser product now after forty five years after Goldfinger

[@richardloewenhagen3818]

"It's important to keep our eye on progress, and expectations in check!" That statement implies wisdom way beyond your years. Hat's off, Matt.

[@RickMyBalls]

Hat is off

[@Sjrick]

This may be my favorite channel on KZbin. I learn so much and it gives me hope for the future

[@Dindonmasker]

Would the one in clothing be better for cold weather since the difference in temperature is much greater in the clothing then outside? Let's say for someone climbing the everest. The heat of their body and the very cold outside could generate power for them to use during the ascension?

[@ZirothTech]

Hey Matt, just a heads up, the link for your sponsor isn't working as it has the 'to' included into it!

[@ttfweb1]

I saw carbon nanotubes 20 years ago in a research lab at Philips Research - working in electron microscopy projects. Interesting tech, but it seems to be they are still not yet robust enough to leave the labs yet.

[@MrKhabbu]

Carbon nanotubes are available in different forms . Since last 8 years I am dealing in carbon nano tubes of different size suspended in oil .Main application is Automotive uses and industrial applications. I have 4 modules to offer 1) Engine Treatment 2) AC Treatment 3) Suspension Treatment and 4) Tire Treatment. Very good results have been achieved . Quieter engine,cooler engine,more power almost zero maintenance and pollution. Most of the lifter and or tappet noise goes away never to return

[@KK-xz4rk]

Yea, Its been already 20+ years of promises that cnt will make revolution in .... but in reality they are still a gimmick. H

[@paulferguson8764]

While this is still a widely held perspective it is no longer consistent with the facts on the ground. Although it may seem as though CNTs are not ready for prime time, the reality is that commercialization is underway with CNTs now having been incorporated in products that include conductive polymers, transparent conductive films and battery materials. For example: 15n4u520e106qb7zy1jezch1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/BPSNTECB_NTeC-B_TDS-1.pdf

[@TheDarazsweb]

Very good unbiased review. I am using so called graphene lithium polymer batteries in high current applications, discharge in 7-8 minutes. I had big expectations for the high price. At the very beginning they had lower internal resistance than average lipo batteries, what was enough to increase the usable runtime by 25%. In the long time (50-60 cycles) they are same as any other lipo, loosing capacity and increasing internal resistance until getting unusable after 100 cycles.

[@wirelesmike73]

The thermoelectric angle is potentially HUGE. God, I hope that works. How awesome would 80% efficient solar panels be? How awesome could heat to electricity from any source be? That is about as close to magic as science can get. That's clothing that can charge your phone, or using the heat from your brake pads or friction from tires, bearings, and electric motors to recharge your car's batteries. That would be game-changing. That's literally getting power from where the rubber meets the road. Just imagine using a battery to power a motor that produces heat, that recharges the battery running the motor that's creating the heat... It's about as close to a perpetual motion machine as phisics can allow. The possibilities are endless, if they can scale it up and get it to work. Fingers crossed!!! :D

[@sintaxera]

A reverse resistor

[@punkdigerati]

Did it say an 80% efficient solar panel, or 80% more efficient panel? So if 23% is standard, then 41% with the improvement.

[@wirelesmike73]

@@punkdigerati I understood it to be an 80% efficient panel whereas standard panels are between 20 - 30%. That's huge.

[@joelt2002]

Material properties of carbon nano tubes have significant promise for numerous technologies and industries, not just "green". Being more efficient, more durable, stronger, etc is a key for all engineering projects. This means things can be scaled, which allows functions that were previously economical to be economical. Obsessing over "green" that is merely a byproduct of this, ignores the human progress that is actually made.

[@josgraha]

thanks Matt, awesome video as always. man it would be so cool if these fabrics could be used with an insulator as an intermediate layer between micro-scale silicon transistor wafers to increase cooling and possibly even deliver that power back into the circuit for efficiency

[@mnomadvfx]

An insulating layer to increase cooling...... Oh dear 😑 such is the state of education these days? Don't take it too hard, I blame the system rather than you. Most electrical insulators also insulate well against thermal conduction and vice versa - due to how the process works in most materials. This is the age old problem with creating high efficiency thermoelectric generators. Higher thermal conductivity = lower conversion efficiency. Higher electrical conductivity = higher conversion efficiency. The ideal thermoelectric material would have incredible electrical conductivity coupled with terrible thermal conductivity - so that the heat stays in the same spot while the generated electricity is not lost to heating/resistance and is conducted away to a circuit. Sadly such a thing has not yet been found in nature.

[@josgraha]

@@mnomadvfx thank you sir, indeed my misunderstanding and indeed the system, the not knowing anything about materials science one :)

[@johnlorz4952]

Thanks!

[@UndecidedMF]

Thanks, John!

[@fireballloadout]

Because of their ability to capture waste heat to turn that into electricity, I'm wondering if it could capture the waste heat of a computer or maybe a server room

[@JonS]

Semiconductors were discovered in 1874. While we had diodes first, we didn't get a working transistor until 1948. Thirty years since the discovery of CNTs is not a long time in the context of new materials commercialized applications.

[@kaitlyn__L]

I was just thinking how long it took us to figure out how to produce high-purity silicon, and then again to selectively dope the wafers, and then again to keep it all clean enough for the final design to work. Before we even conceive of things like CPU evolution. We’re definitely still in that early purify and doping stage with 2D materials. We’re still at the stage where we’re even figuring out the best doping materials or base materials. The work with graphene is just one aspect, they’re trialling all sorts of one-atom-thick materials.

[@calebmauer1751]

Being dismissive about new technology is a way to sound smart without having to know anything. And yes, a lot of ideas aren't going anywhere, but damn a lot of other commenters here are really dumb. According to these people, we've apparently reached peak technology now and nothing will ever get any better than 2022.

[@serversurfer6169]

🤔 The safety applications for the heat-to-electricity fabric are enormous. Just imagine… if you accidentally sit on a hot plate, an LED would light up to warn you of the danger. 😜

[@heinzerbrew]

Yes, what if you fell into a vat of molten metal that was just sitting around. Maybe the technology will advance enough to call 911. the possibilities are limitless. It's too bad that the temperature difference humans can tolerate won't really be feasible. Maybe they should use this tech in a sector where there are actually huge temp differences.

[@whoknew4722]

Or imagine it being within baby diapers. When the warm-goo expelled by your baby's bottom hits the CNT structure, its generated electricity would power a built-in cell phone that would call mommy & daddy. The diaper would tell us when to change it. Ooooohh, the endless possibilities 😜!! (unfortunately, most people don't understand the paltry amount of electricity that would be generated by CNTs from heat - making them almost useless)

[@johncgibson4720]

I bought a yarn of nano tubes from Dexmat last week. I build custom 250-gram FPV helicopters for diving practices, and motor manufacturers (all in China and out of our control) often make motors of this weight class with a factory pressure fitting shaft without bolting for shaft swaps. I have been using Kevlar threads as fitting inserts to allow my own custom shaft to be installed in the motors, but Kevlar often breaks during the pressure insertion procedure unless I polish the shaft ends very laborously and neatly. Now I have this magic insert that can take some abuses. My drone's diving videos are in my channel.

[@paysour3]

I personally think this new technology will likely mature in someone's garage laboratory. The efforts are slowed down because people and institutions are trying to protect potential profits. Everyone with a laboratory should be working diligently to bring this revolutionary technology to market.

[@kings5463]

Can you make a video on ways we can get rid of light pollution in cities?

[@shk.Khabeer-Ali]

Brother, your channel I think is the best chunk of science stuff on KZbin. And the way you include the “political-economy” of the things you speak about, that’s what makes you unique.

[@UndecidedMF]

Thank you so much 😀

[@granvillehorn6832]

Matt, Research like this needs to continue. The nanotubes final application is yet unknown, but may be the stepping stone to something greater.

[@sanjuansteve]

Imagine how much faster the world could develop green energy and climate change fighting solutions if it wasn't for intellectual property rights, patents and limitless capitalist greed in general... Let's put solar panels on every home, business and covered parking rooftop and switch to electric vehicles making nearly everything we do solar powered while completely decentralizing our power supply and empowering everyone as power generation owners. Solar power is CHEAPER and electric vehicles are soon to be CHEAPER to make and already are considerably CHEAPER to maintain and operate, especially if charged from your own solar power. A 3-5 year ROI (return on investment) for a solar array that will generate power for decades is a no-brainer and the panels can even be made locally too. #EndFossilFuels #SwitchToSolar #SwitchToElectric #GreenNewDeal #EmpowerEveryone #DEMEXIT #StillSandersPlatform

[@putteslaintxtbks5166]

Then there would be no incentive for companies to do R&D and companies like Tesla wouldn't be!

[@sanjuansteve]

@@putteslaintxtbks5166 Some people are so poor (morally), all they have left are fear and, bigotry (fear) and greed (fear). You seem to be so insane for money, you cannot even imagine a world not dictated by greed. You sound like a MAGA with a comment like this.

[@putteslaintxtbks5166]

The United States of A is the a place of hope a place others around the world want to move to because it is possible to get wealth to raise childen, start a company or get a good paying job because of capatalism. The greatest creater of wealth the world has known. Communism is a failed system with false claims and lost freedom. Spured by those who blame others for their failures and wanting their stuff and almost always costing millions of lifes. Thats why I served as a US Marine, freedom, life and happyness, not that I believe in all the wars are gov. put us in. Name calling doesn't change it.

[@sanjuansteve]

@@calebmauer1751 Your addiction to capitalist greed at any and all costs to the planet and its inhabitants is deplorable.

[@antontaranenko8824]

Wow carbon is a miracle element;) base of life and miracle materials;)

[@rickrys2729]

The conversion of heat energy to work or electric power can only be done so efficiency by any device. The 2nd law of thermodynamics limits that. Efficiency depends on the temperature even for nanotubes

[@edmondthompson1523]

The dough also seems to reduce the inhalation exposure. That's meaningful progress.

[@stanweaver6116]

I’ve often wondered how dangerous the product could be to living organisms. I haven’t seen any information about it yet.

[@edmondthompson1523]

@@stanweaver6116 There is spirited discussion on whether or not they represent an inhalation hazard. Some yes, some no. Best to avoid.

[@ryanvoll7088]

I don’t think nanotubes are over promised, but I do think they underestimate the time it will take. We’re in an age of Industrial Revolution 4.0, and we have a short attention span and expect everything now. We need to remind ourselves, when it comes to technology, we’re still in the toddler stage.

[@kenoliver8913]

There are precedents for a new discovery/invention needing several decades before people actually find a really good use for it. Famously the fractional horsepower electric motor did not transform factories for 50 years after it was already developed. Lasers were for decades described as "an answer looking for a problem". So I don't think it impossible for nanotubes to transform the future. But like nuclear fusion, the longer it takes the less chance it will ever happen.

[@paulferguson8764]

I don't know about transforming the future, but CNTs are already improving battery performance, paints, coatings, conductive plastics and other things. Greatly expanded manufacturing will drive down costs that will make a broader range of applications feasible and increase the pace of adoption, imo.

[@yodaco]

I love the bit where Matt sips the coffee and looks at the camera. Smiles and gestures in a typically word from our sponsors kinda way. Love it.

[@keithnance4209]

Everyone is looking for something revolutionary but if introducing just 10-20% improvements in efficiency or scale should be a worthy and attainable goal. In the process breakthroughs can still happen.

[@iovi3384]

These videos exhaust my brain. Really great content, very thorough!

[@ltlbuddha]

So, concrete. And asphalt. The floor slab of a 2 story fitness centre in Amesbury, UK¹ was poured with Concretene,² which contains no reinforcement steel.³ And a 3 mile section of the A1 in Northumberland was resurfaced with an asphalt containing graphene in the fall of 2021. At least two practical, if not perfectly commercial, real-world applications in the UK. Given the conservative nature of engineering in the US, it might be a bit longer for that to happen there. Although there is a company that makes graphene concrete firepits in the US. ¹near Stonehenge ²The tradename of a graphene concrete mix. There are at least two companies with commercial(ish) graphene concrete products, the other being Concrene. ³Admitedly, a low risk application.

[@302big5]

In theory if we can make graphemes roads we can increase our energy grid completely. solar energy and heat it produce electricity. Fictions from cars and sun lights beaming on the street should produce a lot energy

[@RayMrRobert]

Carbon nanotubes are the future for many applications despite the snails pace progress. It is so vastly different that it will take longer. Less pressure from the public allows researchers the space and time to continue the work. I believe it is tech of the future.

[@paulferguson8764]

I agree completely. One issue is that although the efficacy of CNTs has been proven for a number of applications, the cost of the materials prevented widespread commercial adoption. Mass production of consistent, high quality, chirality-controlled CNTs has until now been the primary barrier to commercialization, imo. That problem has now been solved, at least for MWCNT, so I expect to see the landscape change dramatically over the next few years, starting now.

[@tom4ivo]

The small size and unknown longevity of CNTs in the environment are cause for concern. CNTs are small enough to go inside of cells, and macrophages scavenge them, but what happens afterwards has not been well studied. At the beginning of the 20th century, there was considerable hype about the uses of radioactive materials, and only after a lot of people had been exposed to them did we realize that they needed to be handled with much more care. Since then, we've been surprised by the unexpected consequences of asbestos, pesticides, fluorocarbons, micro plastic beads, radioactive materials (again), and more. There's a saying that you should never put more liquid in a child's glass than you are willing to clean up, and there should be similar words of warning about releasing new and untried technology into the environment. Prove it is safe first.

[@danielroden9424]

drawing out heat to get higher clock speeds or longer life is great but if you can in turn pump electricity back into the device thats a double win.

[@chrisbresler5444]

Hi. I did not drink coffee for about 25 years because it gave me severe migraines! But then I found out that it does not happen with pure coffee, only with "instant coffees" containing Chicory and whatever. I now drink 3 cups of coffee (e.g. Jacobs) without any sign of migraine. Try it.

[@jonathanballoch]

you could use this "shine" phenomenon that converts heat to light for better in-space cooling too. People don't talk about it enough, but heat is REALLY hard to get rid of in space applications

[@deozeo4442]

I was thinking of similar, particularly with the JWT.

[@davefoc]

A note from an old fart to the people that are skeptical of this stuff: In my (probably longer) experience you are right to be skeptical. I have been skeptical of a lot of stuff over the years and I was almost always right. But seeing the stuff that I was skeptical of actually become a thing has been a thrill. Among things I expected to never happen were flat screen things,. mass market cell phones, mass market electric cars, and telescopes much larger than the Hale Mt. Palomar telescope. The world would not have been nearly as cool as it is if I had been the guy in charge of what things to work on because a whole lot of them would never have happened. FWIW, I was skeptical of all the carbon nano tube/graphene stuff from the start (how the hell are they going to make it?). It's looking like I was sort of wrong right now, but I might have been completely wrong and that would be very cool.

[@Justwantahover]

It's in the morning and I have to buzz around with my morning chores. No time to be able to take this in. Maybe I will watch it again tonight when I'm settled and have time to take it in.

[@grinpick]

At about 6:30 you refer to using graphene nanotubes with solar panels to "boost their efficiency by up to eighty percent." I would interpret raising twenty-three percent efficiency by eighty percent as raising it to around 41 percent. It seemed to me that your remarks immediately after that left room for ambiguity, pehaps giving the impression that the efficiency was being boosted to eighty percent.

[@kaitlyn__L]

Yeah, various comments are saying “80% efficient solar panels? Sick!” in various ways. As you say, it’s more like 41% for IRL. Or in the lab studies I suppose it went from 50% to 90%? But extrapolating the IRL figures, it’s more about bringing IRL enhanced panels up to the efficiency of standard panels in the lab.

[@damiangreen299]

What is the tensile strength of the carbon nanotube threads as shown in this video?

[@johnmay3266]

Happy New Year Matt. Keep up the good work pal.

[@TomMcinerney-g9b]

Very Good video, including lots of related/background information.

[@etzioplay6904]

If I don't like coffee I don't drink it,. if coffee gives me a headache I don't drink it.... I would have to be very addictive to force myself to find some coffee that I like and won't give me headaches., but beside the coffee commercial, good video!

[@Adderkleet]

3:30 - in college, I learned about the two usual orientations of cyclohexane molecules: "boat" and "chair" (a lounge chair, not an armchair). As far as I can tell, these conformers (like isomers, but for conformations) don't have more technical names (if there is, something like "cis-oid" and "trans-oid" would be my guess).

[@heiniheinsen5866]

Don't think the ad for this video is suiting the channel too well. Those capsules, it's how much energy and water per cup?

[@jfrjr7964]

good explanation and quick review of these technologies.

[@kamstra26]

Sounds like the biggest problem is separation at the industrial level but it's still being worked on As for the time it's taking, solar power wasn't much better to get out of the lab so I can't really complain

[@indie9565]

Personally I think what it would mean for this to become a reality is way too important for it to not exist from a business perspective. The first major company that can 'make the machine to make the machine' will cause such a massive shift in all kinds of production from conduction for energy to space travel and if we could make reusable rockets and/or solar panels using CNTs that would significantly reduce the cost of space travel and energy generation to the point it be not only viable, but possibly the most viable option from a cost perspective. I honestly believe that if we don't get into any kind of issue that halts (this field's) progress we CAN get there and that this will drive the scale of production, but it may get down to whether the cnts cost of production is dwarfed by the amount of money made by the products made with them. There's a lot of background noise so it's a little difficult to think straight, but I hope I conveyed my thoughts well

[@billhart9832]

The “Hollow Grail”! The divergence from the divine “Holy” in describing attributes or properties that are paradigm-shifting but wholly (😉) within the realm of known physics, not “miraculous”, is both overdue and welcome. Our quest is nearly complete. Further on you continue to sprinkle humorous homonyms through your presentation, the subtle comic pauses keep viewers engaged; an effective tool to increase retention of new information. Very cool.

[@okman9684]

Carbon nanotubes was my first inter school science project

[@slartibartfast7921]

Wise words at the end. Healthy perspective man.

[@xfry]

I love how easy and practical your topic's explanations are. Thank you for the amazing content you share with us 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

[@Blahoobadyhoo]

I’ve noticed on your last few videos the audio tends to clip the last part of words. Usually at the end of your sentences. My guess is you have the gate set too high on your audio recording equipment. When the volume of your voice goes beneath a certain threshold it cuts the mic in an effort to remove the remaining background noise.

[@ColeSpolaric]

The hollow grail joke was great. Delivered without missing a beat. The viewer has to be paying attention to get it. The rice jokes on the other hand, 😬

[@ariesdarkmage2987]

Given that we keep on scaling up nanotubes I believe that it is just a matter of time and eventually getting something the size of a rope or even thicker to the size of a cable we could eventually get to the point where we have the base for a magnetic based lift for that exact space lift. Only problem I see and why would never build a space lift is simply put so easy to destroy it. So many movies have been made joking about just one person being in a bad mood and blowing this thing out of the sky. I'm sorry I was never one for the space lift I'd rather make a magnetic launch out of this stuff and send it into a spaceport that catches it with an nanotube mesh

[@robgifford3766]

Thanks for talking to us like we aren't all stupid. I'm not that smart but I'm not a child. Not a scientist but I can grasp most things your talking about. I think most of us to appreciate being treated like an informed adult. Good job.

[@MarcoGPUtuber]

7:23 FINALLY! I've always wanted to use my shirt to charge my phone.

[@UndecidedMF]

Maybe it'll be like using a balloon to get static..

[@gshan1234]

"electrifying and down to earth achievement"... this summarizes it .. Thanks Matt. I always enjoy your implicit pun :)

[@benzirosenski9812]

I love your informative and very interesting videos. If I may suggest something - since you talk about complex ideas, some of which I hear about them for the first time, I think it would help if the narration is slower, since these are concepts that need some time to be absorbed in the brain. You are obviously a fast speaker which in normal circumstances is a good thing, but when talking about novel ideas with advanced, state of the art concepts, slowing down might improve the understanding and absorption of the concepts.

[@bertrandcausse548]

Thanks for the very interesting contents and video design, I didn't get the connection with the bad environmental coffee commercial yet but will check again. Cheers

[@TheRealKaiProton]

That heat conversion to electric is amazing, Im think already how useful that would be in CPU heat syncs, could add power back to the motherboard of the unit from the heat the CPU,

[@heinzerbrew]

I'm no mathmagician but those numbers given in the chart have a lot of negative exponents. Doesn't that mean we are talking about very tiny numbers?

[@whoknew4722]

@@heinzerbrew Yes, very very very tiny numbers. Worse still, the amount of manufacturing/process-energy required to simply manufacturer these "heat-reclaiming CNT" engines would likely dwarf the total energy it can convert, over its entire life. This may be practical for only few niche applications, such as in satellites/space.

[@Protonumus]

Awesome. We look forward in the associated technology, applications.

[@tomaschamrad4217]

I am not going to lie this is one of the most amazing things that i heard of becouse there is so many things that have high energy waste due to heat. And other propeties are so good as well.

[@Valixeus7]

Carbon nanotechnology still feels like it's in its infancy. I'm ecstatic to see what comes of it. I can only guess but I would have to say that it will play a big roll in areas we probably haven't even thought of yet. Where else could it be useful? I see it playing a huge roll in filtration for Sea to fresh water. Maybe something to add to or augment our kidney for poisonous material? So many directions to think about with this technology.

[@Ken-nv2hl]

It can be useful and also dangerous as CNT fibers has a large resemblance to asbestos fibers. If inhaled can cause lifelong damage to lungs.

[@Valixeus7]

@@Ken-nv2hl oh yea, used the wrong way I can see the problem with it. I guess I ment more of the graphene mesh version.

[@jadengilliam1494]

Thank you for being thorough yet simplistic. Also, thank you for the little puns, you’re a great writer.

[@UndecidedMF]

Glad you like them! The *nano* puns are the best.

[@obsolete21]

Would CNTs be a good candidate to harvest and convert residual heat in urban environments to electricity? There's a fantastic amount of residual heat that's trapped by office buildings and roadways - it seems a shame to not be able to capture it and convert it in to a useful form.

[@paysour3]

It would be excellent to harvest geothermal heat. Or turn deserts into power plants.

[@kaitlyn__L]

The main question is twofold: A) it’s not about how much heat in isolation, it’s about the thermal gradient, so you’d need to find cold spots as well. Cities have cold-er- spots sure, but the local differential for the thermoelectric device is likely to be limited in very dense urban environments precisely due to the heat island effect. B) what are the efficiencies of the device? One LED from a hotplate, scaled-up, suggests air conditioning waste heat might be able to run nearby street lights for instance. That’s not nothing, if cheap-enough that’s already enough of a reason to install them into buildings. But it’s not going to, like, halve the number of power plants/energy farms all by itself either.

[@paysour3]

@@kaitlyn__L in the desert cooler gradient would be underground or in the shade. Which may be the same case in the city.

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@paysour3 of course, there will always be cool-er parts, but the question is: is it 5°C cooler? 10? 20? That magnitude determines the power output, not the absolute temp of the hot side. Additionally, you cannot necessarily simply have the hot and cool sides large distances apart, if it is all in one plate they need to be next to each other, otherwise some kind of refrigerant or other transfer fluid would be required, which would also affect the efficiency, and be a different design. This is inherent to all thermal engines, the graphene plate would be very much like a modern semiconductor peltier cooler, which indeed can also generate some current from being made hot and cold, just the CNTs allow 3x more power output vs a peltier plate. Of course with arbitrarily large distances you can find any cold side you want. The challenge lies in finding them close-enough. One of the best options may in fact be another topic this channel covered, devices which output heat in the gap in the absorbency band of our atmosphere, and create a cold side for other devices such as air conditioning. Well, they could be used here too. But they generate fairly mild temperature gradients as well, marketing themselves as making savings on A/C, rather than outright replacing it. So if that’s your best option vs some limited environmental cold side, then it swings back around to limited efficiency. Of course even 0.1°C delta will produce _some_ power, but could it even power a single LED? Even with massive scaling of power factor, which thermodynamics makes dubious, that small of a delta is not likely to be large enough.

[@paysour3]

@@kaitlyn__L Just three meters beneath the Sahara the temperature gradient would be sufficient. Quite the reverse with a geothermal gradient the ambient temperature above ground should be enough if I understand the principle correctly.

[@westganton]

I love hexagons. You should do a video on the benefits of a hexagonal city grid system (e.g. 3 way intersections vs 4)

[@vermeerasia]

Matt -- can you list or link your info sources for your video content? Sometimes I'd like to take a deeper dive into a topic you cover (like this one) and would like to explore your sources. Thanks!

[@vermeerasia]

Never mind...I just found 'em.

[@Thebreakdownshow1]

Carbon nanotubes are like nuclear fission. Everyone takes it as a joke and say is that this technology is always going to be 30 years from now. However the date it works, it is going to literally revolutionize our life.

[@olaruud9366]

Pretty sure the japanese will disagree on your fission statement. You are probably thinking about fusion.

[@diraziz396]

Rice University Rocks. Great topic. Thanks Matt for gathering and delightfully presented.

[@tarun1982]

WE need to set a realistic goal for graphene and CNT I think they should first make a graphene supercar that weighs 50 lbs and can go 2000mph. And then we can try more tougher challenging stuff.

[@ianmcc2420]

All the thermodynamics I learned in college needs to be revisited.

[@mr.mastor]

You could use the heat absorbing one in computers for noiseless cooling!

[@UndecidedMF]

Are carbon nanotube heat-sinks in our future perhaps?

[@DaKloneGaming]

I asked ChatGPT randomly "How much would it cost to build the Halo Space Station?" That's where ChatGPT mentions the possibility of a Space Elevator. Asking about Space Elevators, I learned about Nano Tubes. That's what brought me here. fascinating.

[@DaKloneGaming]

we must build the space elevator.

[@droopyofthenorthwestmounted]

Hollow Grail. Some may cringe but your puns always give me a good chuckle.