Thursday, October 1, 2009

From Rubber to Buckyballs

I have only been teaching for just over one year, but for the moment it is in invigorating and strange process. Whenever I am giving a lecture, no matter how well prepared I am for it, I seem to be learning as much as my students when I am speaking. It is as if giving the lecture itself reveals a mental connection that wasn’t present when the lecture was being written. This past weekend I spoke at an astronomy institute, which in itself is a stretch, as I am not an astronomer. I stayed close to things I know however, and talked about materials which I think show great promise for use in space suits and space craft. This talk led me down several new paths of discovery, all of which have been a lot of fun. Like lectures for my students, I discovered a connection that I had not thought of before. That is a connection between fairly traditional materials that have been used for 150 years, rubber, and new cutting edge materials, referred to as nanomaterials. What it made me realize is that the history of rubber technology and the emergence of nanotechnology share a lot of similarities that we can learn from.
By 1830 Rubber was a large and speculative market in the United States and Europe. Having been brought by Europeans from Brazil, the latex of the Hevea tree was more than just a fascination. Scientists and industrials all realized that Rubber was a unique material, with this strange elastic behavior not seen in anything else. In the late 18th Century Joseph Priestley, the great British inventor and intellect, first enjoyed rubber, giving it its name, as he used it to rub out pencil lead. As science became more sophisticated, especially chemistry, the concept of the macromolecule, which was the foundation of thee high molecular weight natural rubber that came from Brazil, was being studied by great scientists like Michael Faraday, and industrialist like the Mackintosh. In the United States investors flocked to the rubber rage, opening factories across the east coast. For 10 years however rubber disappointed from a commercial standpoint. Unable to reach the high expectations of being the wonder material that could do everything, it remained sticky, and a true mess in heat and cold. This was of course until the impoverished, but obsessively dedicated inventor Charles Goodyear worked for 8 long years to unlock the secret to Rubbers brilliance. He eventually discovered that sulfur and lead, with evenly distributed heat, caused the rubber to have the dream properties that were predicted by early adopters. Goodyear in his own book on his new vulcanized rubber described over 250 products that would come from rubber. This was before the tire. Eventually there would be thousands. The properties of rubber were, and still are extraordinary. Elastic, waterproof, insulting, durable etc. Rubber , whether natural or synthetic, is now a crucial part of modern life. Without it there would be no cars, planes or balloons.

Nanotechology seems to me to be in a similar position as rubber was before Charles Goodyear’s great discovery. Like the industrialists and scientists of that time, Nanoparticles have been touted as the most amazing materials ever discovered. Four noble prizes have been awarded in fields related to nanotechnology, including one to Richard Smalley for his discovery of fullerens, more commonly known as buckyballs, which are 60 carbon atoms that together make one of the most unique molecules imaginable. A spin off of this are carbon nanotubes, which have strength greater than steal, with flexibility of elastomers. They have unique electrical abilities, as they defy some basic concepts such as ohms law. They have no resistance. They also obey some interesting Quantum mechanical effects, including being able to be entangled, which can lead to new types of computing. They can be packed into very small spaces as well, making them a possible next generation of microchips. They can be used as tiny antennae for solar cells. Like Goodyear’s 250 possibilities of rubber, nanotechnologist have thought of that or more.
The fact, and challenge remains that while investment and research have been strong in nanotechology, a Goodyear type eureka moment, where fabrication and utilization are available has not happened yet. In fact investors have tended to say the perhaps nanotechology was more hype than reality. I would say however that we need to remember that with diligence, the secrets of science can become the common products of our future.

Going back to my lecture on space materials, what I took away from it all is that we must remember how this old unique technology of rubber, and how new innovations in nanotechnology can be material partners for the future.

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