Seeram Ramakrishna’s research while affiliated with National University of Singapore and other places

Carbon nanotubes were once the poster child for the burgeoning field of nanotechnology, spawning a sense of optimism in the possibilities of engineering materials with unparalleled properties and embedding this excitement in the scientific zeitgeist of the early 1990s. Scientists, engineers, and the growing community of nanotechnologists were all eager to explore the potential of this wonder material in applications ranging from the very small, such as in nanoscale interconnects connecting components of integrated circuits, to the very big, as is the case in the proposed “space elevator” tethering the earth to objects in geostationary orbit. In the intervening years, much work has been published in the scientific literature on these nanomaterials, documenting the developments and prophesizing their prospective uses in all manner of industries. In the domain of energy sustainability, perhaps the most significant impact that carbon nanotubes might have is in power transmission, in the form of devices such as power transmission wires and cables. This chapter will delve into the recent progress in the fabrication techniques, upscaling these nanoscale building blocks into the macroscale where the properties can be exploited in engineering applications. Additionally, this chapter will give the reader an appreciation of the efforts to apply these wires and cables in different contexts, ranging from simple power transmission to energy conversion and storage devices such as capacitors. Finally, a broad industrial perspective on the challenges remaining to be addressed before this technology can reach maturity will be provided, and the possible routes forward will be discussed.