World's lightest solid material

The researchers created a new Aerogel has incredible strength and an incredible finish. Nicknamed "frozen smoke" because of its transparent appearance, Aerogels from materials of a gel that would replace the liquid part of the gel to a gas, producing a material known as the lightest solid material in the world. The new so-called "multi-Aerogel carbon nanotubes (MCNT)" can be used in sensors to detect pollutants and toxic substances, chemical reactors, and electronic components.

Although it was Aerogel silica, metal oxides, polymers and materials based on coal and used as windows and insulation of buildings, tennis rackets, sponge to clean spills of petroleum and other products, some researchers Aerogel carbon nanotubes.

The researchers were able to succeed where so many others before them had wet ice with a well-dispersed MWCNTs untouched. After the liquid part of MWCNTs crushed ice, you could make the lightest never independent MWCNTs Aerogel monolith with a density of 4 mg/cm3.

MWCNTs aerogels impregnated with a flexible plastic material, like a spring that stretches for thousands of times, and nanotubes in a bucket with a grain has been opened and placed at the side and in the end, the three soccer fields carpet. The MWCNTs Aerogel is a good conductor of electricity, making them ideal for screening applications and offers great potential for use in electronic components.

A report that describes the process as Aerogel MWCNTs and testing to determine its properties are displayed in ACS Nano.