Have you ever had a roommate who saves plastic grocery bags just in case they ever have the need to reuse the dang things? Like, hundreds of plastic grocery bags? Well, thanks to some Australian engineers, those extra bags can become technology of the future.
A team from the University of Adelaide recently developed a method for turning plastic bags into carbon nanotubes. Specifically, they grew the nanotubes on alumina membranes by vaporizing the plastic bags in a furnace and then layering the isolated carbon molecules onto the membranes. Carbon nanotubes are among the strongest and stiffest materials known to man and can be used for everything from electronics to wind turbines. And this new process creates the nanotubes while also doing away with problematic waste.
Compared with previous cases that scientist built carbon nanotubes from the remnants of plastic bags, the new Australian method is both cheaper and more efficient. And both methods make those nasty pieces of trash into something that we can actually use, instead of just taking up space space in your kitchen cabinet.
本文来源：新华网
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