Streams plus nanostrands equals electricity

Since the discovery of carbon nanotubes in 1991, scientists have marveled at the structures’ superlative strength and their promising electronic and optical properties. Now it seems that the tubes might also serve as tiny hydropower plants.

New measurements by scientists in India show that a dense bundle of so-called single-wall nanotubes–atom-thick sheets of carbon rolled into cylinders (SN: 1/4/03, p.