Jan. 14 – A team of researchers has created the first carbon nanotubes fibers, combining the best properties of metal cables, high electrical conductivity, carbon fibers and textile threads. Among the researchers responsible for the discovery, there are two former students of the University of Bologna: Matteo Pasquali, Director of the research project and Professor of Chemical and Bio-molecular Engineering and of Chemistry at Rice University; and Natnael Behabtu, a researcher at Rice University and Dupont. The discovery was published on Science and is the result of the combined work of researchers at Rice University, the Dutch company Teijin Aramid, the Air Force Research Laboratory Materials American (U.S. Air Force) and the Israeli Technion Institute. The published article discusses the production process – which can be implemented at the industrial scale – of these innovative fibers, more relevant today than other high-tech fibers.
