Chemically driven carbon-nanotube-guided thermopower waves
Theoretical calculations predict that by coupling an exothermic chemical reaction with a nanotube or nanowire possessing a high axial thermal conductivity, a self-propagating reactive wave can be driven along its length. Herein, such waves are realized using a 7-nm cyclotrimethylene trinitramine ann...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
| Published: |
Nature Publishing Group
2012
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/74064 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2944-808X https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2676-4442 |
| Summary: | Theoretical calculations predict that by coupling an exothermic chemical reaction with a nanotube or nanowire possessing a high axial thermal conductivity, a self-propagating reactive wave can be driven along its length. Herein, such waves are realized using a 7-nm cyclotrimethylene trinitramine annular shell around a multiwalled carbon nanotube and are amplified by more than 10[superscript 4] times the bulk value, propagating faster than 2 m s[superscript −1], with an effective thermal conductivity of 1.28±0.2 kW m[superscript −1] K[superscript −1] at 2,860 K. This wave produces a concomitant electrical pulse of disproportionately high specific power, as large as 7 kW kg[superscript −1], which we identify as a thermopower wave. Thermally excited carriers flow in the direction of the propagating reaction with a specific power that scales inversely with system size. The reaction also evolves an anisotropic pressure wave of high total impulse per mass (300 N s kg[superscript −1]). Such waves of high power density may find uses as unique energy sources. |
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