The Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, announces that its researchers have won an award of $1 million from the Department of Energy’s advanced manufacturing office for development of nanometal-interconnected carbon conductors for advanced electric machines.
Metal-based wiring such as copper in electric devices may eventually be replaced by nanocarbon materials that are stronger, do not corrode, are lighter in weight, and are equally conductive.
“The differentiator in the present work is that we are looking for the right combination of carbon nanotubes with nano-metals to create better transport at the nanoscale. This is going to require us to find the right chemical treatment technology to infiltrate the nano-tube network with metals and the right metals,” says Brian Landi, associate professor of chemical engineering in RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering. “If we could create affordable carbon wiring that has the electrical properties competitive with metal wiring, we would have a completely disruptive technology that would supplant metal wiring in select portable applications,”
Prof. Landi is the principal investigator on the project, working with government partners at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, and with industry leaders Nanocomp Technologies and Minnesota Wire.
The advantages of nanocarbon wiring over metal wires are in the mechanical properties. For example, its exceptional flexure tolerance and better corrosion stability can extend the life and duty cycles of the wire. Nanocarbon-based wiring has lower density than copper, and could also improve fuel usage and save energy in portable applications such as unmanned aerial or underwater vehicles.
Prof. Ivan Puchades and Prof. Reginald Rogers will focus on various types of electrochemical metal deposition and chemical functions required to achieve nanometal-interconnected carbon conductors.
