Nanomaterials research: A big step for Ecuador

Ecuador has experienced serious migration difficulties over the past decade, as have many other Latin American countries. Ray Baughman showed a method to fabricate sheets of carbon nanotube aerogels for use as artificial muscles. The sheets, fabricated by mechanically spinning aligned nanotubes grown on substrates, work as soft actuators and are able to generate 100 times the force of a natural muscle, operate at temperatures from 80-1,900 K. Paola Ayala discussed new high-vacuum, chemical vapor deposition approaches for the fabrication of doped and filled carbon nanotubes, and procedures to determine extremely low doping levels using bulk spectroscopic techniques that complement spatially resolved methods. Paola Ayala discussed new high-vacuum, chemical vapor deposition approaches for the fabrication of doped and filled carbon nanotubes, and procedures to determine extremely low doping levels using bulk spectroscopic techniques that complement spatially resolved methods.