RPI Scientist Honored for Carbon Nanotube Research

Pulickel Ajayan, the Henry Burlage Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, N.Y., has received the MRS Medal from the Materials Research Society for his carbon nanotube research. Soon after the first report of carbon nanotubes appeared in 1991, Ajayan and his colleagues at NEC Corp. reported the large-scale synthesis of nanotubes using the electric arc-discharge method. In 1993, he showed how nanotubes could be opened and filled with foreign materials using oxidation and capillarity effects. He has produced several seminal papers related to the development of carbon nanotubes and nanotube-based materials for materials science applications, and the use of electron-beam irradiation in the modification of carbon nanostructures. He joined the Materials Science and Engineering faculty at RPI in 1997. Recently his work has focused on the engineering of various organized carbon-nanotube architectures and the demonstration of these structures in applications leading to gas sensors, flexible composite films, and compressible foams. The MRS Medal is awarded for a specific outstanding recent discovery or advancement that is expected to have a major impact on the progress of any materials-related field. Ajayan will receive the award, consisting of a cash prize, a medal and a citation certificate, on Nov. 29 at the 2006 MRS Fall Meeting in Boston. Ajayan will also speak on the controlled assembly of carbon nanotube architectures.