Physics Student at Lehigh University Works on Developing Tiny Carbon Nanotubes

Tom Flores, a junior majoring student in physics is actively involved in research work in developing tiny carbon nanotubes. The carbon nanotubes (CNT) that Flores is trying to develop have diameters of 1 to 5 nm.

These nanotubes will exhibit high strength, hardness and stiffness and their length to diameter ratio will be of the order of million is to one. Potential applications of these carbon nanotubes are in energy and medicine. Due to their extremely minute size, these tubes are often concealed inside nicks, specks of dust and other abnormalities on the microscopic slides. One way to detect their presence is with the help of the infrared light emitted by them when subjected to a light source.

Flores had begun his study of CNTs last spring along with an associate professor of physics. He has been doing research under the Research Experience program organised by the University for undergraduates. This program receives financial aid from the National Science Foundation, under which a student can do his internship along with a faculty member for a period of 10 weeks, during which he is paid a stipend. The funded internship program has been going on for almost two decades now and on an average around 28 students have benefited from it. Flores has been studying the CNT under the NTEGRA-Spectra, which was acquired by the material science department. The device is a combination of an atomic-force microscope (AFM) and an optical microscope, which records the topographic images of the object under observation. The AFM imaging technique is combined with total internal reflection florescence (TIRF), which is a photoluminescence technique that captures images of the object and its properties by exciting it to the point where it emits light. A unique characteristic of TIRF is that it is capable of exciting objects on an extremely thin plane, such as CNTs. The AFM technique is primarily used for locating the object on the plane, using the probe tip. Flores concluded by saying that the main intent of their research was to examine CNTs and establish their characteristics for engineers to probe further into their applications.