Buckytubes Buckytubes Gubbins and his colleagues are studying idealized models of either real, existing materials or potentially new and better materials. We became interested in buckytubes because it seems they can be made with pores of very uniform sizes, and so it might be possible to tailor them to particular applications.
Carbon atoms are highly selective and can absorb one gas from a gaseous mixture.
Maddox used the C90 at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center to simulate how 1,300 argon atoms interact with a buckytube 12 to 15 atoms in diameter, a simulation that required 60 hours of C90 computing. On first exposure, the argon atoms go in very easily, forming a first layer on the inside of the tube. Then, as you increase the pressure to force the gas into the tube, you get a sudden jump in the number of adsorbed atoms as a second layer starts to form. This happens again for several more layers in the larger buckytubes, until a saturation point is reached, when the tube is filled with condensed fluid. Our work is to point out possible uses of these materials and to indicate what's possible once pure materials are available.