Researchers in the States have created the world's smallest radio made from carbon nanotubes.
The tiny strands of carbon are smaller than a grain of sand but the developers claim they may end up outperforming silicon based electronics currently in use.
The story, from Reuters, adds that the strands are a hundred thousand times smaller than the width of a human hair, forming a thin layer of semiconductor material that can be used in electronics devices and circuits.
'Our goal is not to make tiny radios per se, but really to develop nanotubes as a higher-performing semiconductor,' said John Rogers, a professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Illinois to Reuters.
These radios are specifically designed to showcase a new way of building new platforms for electronics technology.
Once the tubes are made, they are tested in two radio frequency amplifiers, a radio frequency mixer and an audio amplifier, all made from carbon nanotube materials.
Tests were carried out plugging regular sized headphones into an output transistor (also made from nanotube material) using a normal sized antenna.
Reuters also claimed that in one test the research team tuned one of the nanotube transistor radios to a Baltimore radio station and picked up the traffic report.
Rogers went on to conclude, 'The radio itself is not interesting. But the fact that we are at a point that we can do things like a radio is a good milestone for us'.
www.reuters.com
Share this article:
Del.icio.us this
