Part 3. Texts on interdisciplinary research for abstracting and annotating

Interdisciplinary research (IDR) now receives a great deal of attention because of the rich, creative contributions it often generates. But a host of factors — institutional, interpersonal, and intellectual — also make a daunting challenge of conducting research outside one's usual domain. This selection of the texts on interdisciplinary research is our brief guide to the most effective avenues for collaborative and integrative research in different spheres of knowledge.

It provides answers to questions such as what the best way is to conduct interdisciplinary research on topics related to humanitarian issues. Which are the most successful interdisciplinary research programs in these areas? How do you identify appropriate collaborators? How do you find dedicated funding streams? How do you overcome peer-review and publishing challenges? The selection outlines the lessons that can be taken from the IDR study, and presents a series of informative texts revealing the most successful interdisciplinary research ideas and programs. These programs provide a variety of models of how best to undertake interdisciplinary research.

TASKS

· Write synopses and/or annotations in Russian for each of the texts referring to the guidelines for synopses and annotations (appendix 10).

· Discuss the benefits of interdisciplinary research and the central strategies required to achieve them.

· Propose interdisciplinary research in your sphere of knowledge.

Carbon nanotubes: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats

NANO Magazine, Wednesday, 13 October 2010, Issue 20 (http://www.nanomagazine.co.uk/)

Carbon nanotubes hold great promise for adding functionality, conductivity and strength to many existing and future products. For that reason they've become a hot topic for industry, with promised applications across a broad range sectors.

What are Carbon nanotubes?

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are allotropes of carbon. A single wall carbon nanotube is a one-atom thick sheet of graphite (called graphene) rolled up into a seamless cylinder with diameter of the order of a nanometer. This results in a nanostructure where the length-to-diameter ratio exceeds 10,000.

Such cylindrical carbon molecules have novel properties that make them potentially useful in many applications in nanotechnology, electronics, optics and other fields of materials science. They exhibit extraordinary strength and unique electrical properties, and are efficient conductors of heat. Inorganic nanotubes have also been synthesized. Nanotubes are members of the fullerene structural family, which also includes buckyballs. Whereas buckyballs are spherical in shape, a nanotube is cylindrical, with at least one end typically capped with a hemisphere of the buckyball structure. Their name is derived from their size, since the diameter of a nanotube is on the order of a few nanometers (approximately 50,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair), while they can be up to several millimeters in length.

There are two main types of nanotubes: single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs) and multi-walled nanotubes (MWNTs). Single-walled carbon nanotubes consist of one graphite sheet tube of carbon atom hexagons, while multi-walled carbon nanotubes are characterized by multiple concentric tubes both have a diameter of 1 to 100 nanometres, but average at just a few nanometres. Although not a hollow tube, carbon nanofibers (CNF) represent a third type of tubular structure. The ends of nanotubes are either open or capped with fullerenes.

The nature of the bonding of a nanotube is described by applied quantum chemistry, specifically, orbital hybridization. The chemical bonding of nanotubes are composed entirely of sp2 bonds, similar to those of graphite. This bonding structure, which is stronger than the sp3 bonds found in diamond, provides the molecules with their unique strength. Nanotubes naturally align themselves into "ropes" held together by Van der Waals forces. Under high pressure, nanotubes can merge together, trading some sp2 bonds for sp3 bonds, giving great possibility for producing strong, unlimited-length wires through high-pressure nanotube linking.

They are not unlike other carbon materials, such as diamond or the carbon black that can be found in pencils or car tyres. They have a completely different structure, however, which gives them interesting and very promising properties. Normal graphite is built of sheets with a honeycomb structure of carbon atoms. These sheets are very strong, stable and flexible, but adjoining sheets lack a strong cohesion. In nanotubes, however, these sheets are larger and are “rolled-up” to form long, thin spiral patterns. The significant interest in the production, research and development of carbon nanotubes stems from the unique chemical, mechanical, and physical properties inherent in these materials as. These desired properties include high tensile strength, high electric and thermal conductivity, lightweight, high surface area per gram, advantages in hydrogen storing and catalyzing, absorbency, and flexibility.

The tensile strength of single-walled nanotubes is 100 times greater than that of steel, at only one sixth of steel weight. In terms of thermal conductivity, carbon nanotubes at 1,200-3,000 W/mK exceed that for diamonds at 700-2,000 W/mK. Because of these properties, many researchers and product developers have been attracted to carbon nanotubes for a broad array of potential applications including composites, displays, sensors, fuel and solar cells, batteries, and pharmaceutical materials.

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