Carbon nanotube arrays could be the basis of high-density energy storage devices and efficient chip cooling systems. The performance of such devices, however, depends on the quality of the nanotubes and the precise structure of the array. So researchers including Anastasios John Hart, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan, are honing techniques for growing carefully structured forests of high-quality carbon nanotubes.

The intricate pattern above is made of carbon nanotubes grown on a silicon wafer patterned with a catalyst.

a tree developing at an equivalent rate, Hart says, would be growing at 500 miles per hour

Intramolecular forces cause carbon nanotubes to stick to each other

may cause the nanotubes to form tangles, curlicues, fault lines and other structures

might be used as sensing probes