Revolutionary paper is stronger than steel

TALLAHASSEE, Florida (AP) --

It's called "buckypaper" and looks a lot like ordinary carbon paper, but don't be fooled by the cute name or flimsy appearance. It could revolutionize the way everything from airplanes to TVs are made.
Florida State University researcher Ben Wang, whose computer screen shows a microscopic view of buckypaper.

Buckypaper is 10 times lighter but potentially 500 times stronger than steel when sheets of it are stacked and pressed together to form a composite. Unlike conventional composite materials, though, it conducts electricity like copper or silicon and disperses heat like steel or brass.

"All those things are what a lot of people in nanotechnology have been working toward as sort of Holy Grails," said Wade Adams, a scientist at Rice University.

That idea -- that there is great future promise for buckypaper and other derivatives of the ultra-tiny cylinders known as carbon nanotubes -- has been floated for years now. However, researchers at Florida State University say they have made important progress that may soon turn hype into reality.

Buckypaper is made from tube-shaped carbon molecules 50,000 times thinner than a human hair. Due to its unique properties, it is envisioned as a wondrous new material for light, energy-efficient aircraft and automobiles, more powerful computers, improved TV screens and many other products.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/10/17/buckypaper.invention.ap/index.html

nice to see the USA can still take the lead in some things.

Other than clean itself out of the chimney on its own?

If we can cheaply make carbon nanotubes, we can use it to replace wood and plastic in furniture, and fibers in clothing.

That would make things both stronger and lighter. Imagine clothing that won't rip or tear, woven from fine carbon-nanotube threads. Furniture made from layers of carbon nanotube "paper" instead of wood, particle board, or plastic.

... would be if we could capture atmospheric CO2, crack it, and use the carbon for manufacturing these things - re-fix the carbon and build something with it.