Looks like the boys over at MIT have done it again http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/carbon-nanotubes-produce-electricity/and here http://www.gizmag.com/carbon-nanotubes-thermopower-waves-electricity/14442/From what I gather, nanotubes also act as a heat conduit, accelerating the transmission of heat along them. I suppose this changes the resistance for passive(?) electron flow in the area in the tube where the heat is. That area, moving along the tube, induces a current. The heat comes from a fuel coating which is ignited by a spark or laser beam, heat bounces off the coating and is directed into the nanotube Apparently the amount of electricity generated is proportional to the weight and this method can purportedly produce 100x more electricity than a lithium ion battery of the same weight. In the second article, they say that they can reduce the size of a battery to power tiny devices powered by batteries i suppose up to 100x smaller that produce the same power as before... Devices that small probably dont even need as much power as a device 100x as large so I guess you could get away with using an even smaller power source for small devices... What confuses me is they say that by using different kinds of reactive materials for coatings, they can produce AC current, which is fine, but from the video, I get the impression that theyre burning a fuel coating? So wait a sec, how do you power a device, the size of a grain of rice (or smaller) by combusting a fuel coating on the 'battery'... Obviously theyre not telling us something What do you guys think?
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Topic: Using Carbon Nanotubes to Produce Electricity? (Read 3935 times)
