Calculating Volume of Carbon Nanotubes in Aligned Arrays

[Kmenex]

Consider the following hypothetical situation. A solution of pure single walled carbon nanotubes is attached to a base (flat surface) with a regular array of "chemical hooks" which bind to a functional end of the nanotube. The tubes are connected to a similar base at the other end and then stretched into an aligned array. In this experiment the spacing between the nanotubes is quite regular, and the size of each nanotubes is found to vary very little.

Now... My question is this... In such a system is it appropriate to consider the total length and diameter of the nanotube as a cylinder and thus calculate the volume of each tube? In such a system one might take a measure of the total number of nanotubes in the highly aligned array and thus compute a volume which is within an appropriate range.

The reason i ask is that i am attempting to design a composite material which has a high volume of highly aligned SWNT as a constituent component.

For example if i have a SWNT of radius 2nm and length 1 cm (i know that this is exceptionally large) would it be appropriate to assume that it has the volume of a cylinder of equivalent dimensions...

 

[Navin A S]

Yes, it is appropriate to consider the total length and diameter of the nanotube as a cylinder and thus calculate the volume of each tube. The volume of a cylinder is given by V = πr²h, where r is the radius and h is the height or length of the cylinder. In this case, the radius is 2 nm and the height is 1 cm. Therefore, the volume of the nanotube is V = π(2 x 10^-9 m)²(0.01 m) = 3.14 x 10^-13 m³.