Posted on 04/14/2016 8:28:59 AM PDT by Red Badger
Nanotube wires self-assemble under the influence of a directed electric field from the Tesla coil. Credit: Jeff Fitlow
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Scientists at Rice University have discovered that the strong force field emitted by a Tesla coil causes carbon nanotubes to self-assemble into long wires, a phenomenon they call "Teslaphoresis."
The team led by Rice chemist Paul Cherukuri reported its results this week in ACS Nano.
Cherukuri sees this research as setting a clear path toward scalable assembly of nanotubes from the bottom up.
The system works by remotely oscillating positive and negative charges in each nanotube, causing them to chain together into long wires. Cherukuri's specially designed Tesla coil even generates a tractor beam-like effect as nanotube wires are pulled toward the coil over long distances.
This force-field effect on matter had never been observed on such a large scale, Cherukuri said, and the phenomenon was unknown to Nikola Tesla, who invented the coil in 1891 with the intention of delivering wireless electrical energy.
"Electric fields have been used to move small objects, but only over ultrashort distances," Cherukuri said. "With Teslaphoresis, we have the ability to massively scale up force fields to move matter remotely."
The researchers discovered that the phenomenon simultaneously assembles and powers circuits that harvest energy from the field. In one experiment, nanotubes assembled themselves into wires, formed a circuit connecting two LEDs and then absorbed energy from the Tesla coil's field to light them.
Cherukuri realized a redesigned Tesla coil could create a powerful force field at distances far greater than anyone imagined. His team observed alignment and movement of the nanotubes several feet away from the coil. "It is such a stunning thing to watch these nanotubes come alive and stitch themselves into wires on the other side of the room," he said.
Nanotubes were a natural first test material, given their heritage at Rice, where the HiPco production process was invented. But the researchers envision many other nanomaterials can be assembled as well.
Lindsey Bornhoeft, the paper's lead author and a biomedical engineering graduate student at Texas A&M University, said the directed force field from the bench-top coil at Rice is restricted to just a few feet. To examine the effects on matter at greater distances would require larger systems that are under development. Cherukuri suggested patterned surfaces and multiple Tesla coil systems could create more complex self-assembling circuits from nanoscale-sized particles. ============================================================================================================
Rice University chemist Paul Cherukuri, left, Texas A&M graduate student Lindsey Bornhoeft, center, and Rice research scientist Carter Kittrell show the power of Teslaphoresis, which wirelessly lights their fluorescent tubes. Tests with a customized Tesla coil revealed that nanotubes within the field self-assemble into wires. Credit: Jeff Fitlow
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Cherukuri and his wife, Tonya, also a Rice alum and a co-author of the paper, noted that their son Adam made some remarkable observations while watching videos of the experiment. "I was surprised that he noticed patterns in nanotube movements that I didn't see," Cherukuri said. "I couldn't make him an author on the paper, but both he and his little brother John are acknowledged for helpful discussions."
Cherukuri knows the value of youthful observation and imagination since he started designing Tesla coils as a teen. "I would have never thought, as a 14-year-old kid building coils, that it was going to be useful someday," he said.
Cherukuri and his team self-funded the work, which he said made it more meaningful for the group. "This was one of the most exciting projects I've ever done, made even more so because it was an all-volunteer group of passionate scientists and students. But because Rice has this wonderful culture of unconventional wisdom, we were able to make an amazing discovery that pushes the frontiers of nanoscience."
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Nanotube assemblies are drawn to the source of a Tesla field in an experiment at a Rice lab. Credit: Jeff Fitlow
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The teammates look forward to seeing where their research leads. "These nanotube wires grow and act like nerves, and controlled assembly of nanomaterials from the bottom up may be used as a template for applications in regenerative medicine," Bornhoeft said.
"There are so many applications where one could utilize strong force fields to control the behavior of matter in both biological and artificial systems," Cherukuri said. "And even more exciting is how much fundamental physics and chemistry we are discovering as we move along. This really is just the first act in an amazing story."
Co-authors are Rice senior Aida Castillo; Rice research scientists Carter Kittrell, Dustin James and Bruce Brinson; Rice Distinguished Faculty Fellow Bruce Johnson; Thomas Rybolt, chemistry department head and the UC Foundation Professor at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga; and Preston Smalley of the Second Baptist School in Houston, who worked on the project as a summer intern at Rice. Cherukuri and Bornhoeft began the project while both were at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga.
Explore further: Perfect nanotubes shine brightest
More information: Lindsey Rae Bornhoeft et al. Teslaphoresis of Carbon Nanotubes, ACS Nano (2016). DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.6b02313
Journal reference: ACS Nano
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-04-reconfigured-tesla-aligns-electrifies-materials.html#jCp
Tesla Tech Ping!............................
This is quite fantastic. Would anyone with better knowledge of Tesla coils enlighten me on whether or not they could be configured on a nano-scale? As in, could their physical size be reduced to something in the range of 1-2mm? Possibly smaller? This could revolutionize the medical field wrt cancer treatments or other micro-surgical procedures. Further, the idea could be a tremendous step in the direction of deflector arrays as well as repulsor arrays.
This is a nice break from arguing election politics. Really cool. Thanks!
Two difficulties, the strength and effective distance of the field is a function of the diameter of the coil, and physical thickness of the high voltage insulator necessary.
Excellent post, thanks!
My kid brother thinks Tesla is god.
I helped him build his first Tesla coil in 67......when he was 11.
He’s since built massive Tesla coils.....tapping into electrical lines on his property....
Lined his ceiling w copper to keep from burning the house down....
Very interesting. Thanks.
I'm building a giant Tesla coil in Cincinnati to force the RNC delegates to align the way they were supposed to.
For some reason this man has fascinated me ever since I learned what he was all about. I understand virtually none of it. But the one thing that has puzzled me is that all his ideas seem to lead to something that is incredibly LOUD.
Tesla was an electrical genius. But his business acumen was very lacking. He sold the rights to his AC generating system to finance other experiments for $200k, a huge sum no doubt in those days, but he failed to get any royalties as part of the deal.................
They’re still crap - especially their drive train problems.
Wrong Tesla.......................
"Ere many generations pass, our machinery will be driven by a power obtainable at any point in the universe. This idea is not novel... We find it in the delightful myth of Antheus, who derives power from the earth; we find it among the subtle speculations of one of your splendid mathematicians... Throughout space there is energy. Is this energy static or kinetic? If static our hopes are in vain; if kinetic -- and this we know it is, for certain then it is a mere question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature."Nikola Tesla, (in a speech in New York to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, 1891. Quoted from his biography, Margaret Cheney?, Tesla: Man Out of Time)
Tesla’s World Wireless System:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wireless_System
He actually invented RADIO...........................
He did, intro’d it at the exposition in Chicago in 1893, and eventually won a pyrrhic victory in court against Marconi. The Wardenclyffe tower was for the wireless delivery of electrical power — another idea finding application today with wirelessly recharging phones. :’)
Had a contract with George Westinghouse based on every electric motor rated horsepower produced. George ran upon hard financial times fighting General Electric run by Edison. Tesla ripped up his contract, allowing George to redirect those funds against Edison, whom Tesla despised.
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