Carbon nanotubes and the environment
Carbon nanotubes have made a meteoric career in the past 15 years, even if their applications are still limited. Recent research results show that - apart from their favourable mechanical and electrical properties - they also have disadvantageous characteristics. One aspect which has rarely been considered so far is now addressed by researchers of the research centre Forschungszentrum Dresden-Rossendorf. 'If the application of products and commodities containing carbon nanotubes will increase in the future, then there will be a higher probability for the tubes to get into the environment during their production, usage or disposal, to be distributed there, and to bind pollutants such as heavy metals on their way trough the environment,' says Harald Zaenker, scientist at the FZD...