ABSTRACT
In recent years, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have emerged as one of the foremost manifestations of nanotechnology, and extensive research has been expended in probing their various properties. While many desirable attributes in terms of electrical, mechanical, and biological properties have been attributed to CNTs, many obstacles remain before their widespread, practical application (Baughman et al. 2002) becomes feasible. Some of the foremost hindrances are (1) the variation of properties from one nanotube to another, partly due to the unpredictability in synthesis and the random occurrence of defects, and (2) the lack of a tangible method for wide-scale synthesis. Generally, the variation of properties is a natural consequence of nanoscale structures and could be di cult to solve, at least in the short term. It would then seem that fundamentally new ideas might be needed. Some interesting viewpoints are also being considered, where defect manipulation could be used on purpose (Nichols et al. 2007). Wide-scale synthesis methods, for example, by aligning the nanotubes with the underlying crystal orientation (Kang et al. 2007) have recently proved successful, but it is still not clear as to whether such methods would allow for practical implementation, say on the scale of silicon microelectronics.
