Description

"The work by Wang et al. suggests a host of
applications in optoelectronics, for example
infrared polarizers or polarization detectors,
using arrays in which the MWCNTs have a
range of lengths, and wavelength-specific
detectors, for which the MWCNTs are fabricated
to all have the same desired length.
MWCNTs are preferable to SWCNTs for their
electrical metallicity and greater mechanical
robustness, and their random spacing in the
arrays suppresses interference effects.

The preparation of the MWCNT arrays
could easily be extended to a high-throughput
process with the use of established
technology. Over the decade-long history of
carbon nanotubes there has been substantial
investment by the private sector in nanotube
research and development: the technology
devised by Wang et al. may well spawn
optoelectronic applications of considerable
commercial significance."

--M. S. Dresselhaus, Nature 432, 959 (2004)