believes the approach could be adapted to a system in which the fuel is doused over the nanotubes after the initial fuel supply is burned and converted into electrical energy.
“I’m interested in the fuel cell concept,” he said. “The conventional fuel cell has been around since the 1800s but corrosive fuels, catalytic deactivation and complexity have been a hurdle.
“From an engineering standpoint, thermopower waves could be a very simple alternative().”
For the team, however, the first task is to understand just what is going on in the nanotubes, whose mechanical and electrical properties continue to surprise researchers in a number of fields.
“What we’ve discovered is more than just a replacement for batteries,” Dr Strano said.
“To our knowledge, it’s a new scientific area for research. There are many, many questions about these waves: what their