title: Thermoacoustic transduction in individual suspended carbon nanotubes.
abstract: We report an experimental measurement of the acoustic signal emitted from an individual suspended carbon nanotube (CNT) approximate 2 μm in length, 1 nm in diameter, and 10(-21) kg in mass. This system represents the smallest thermoacoustic system studied to date. By applying an AC voltage of 1.4 V at 8 kHz to the suspended CNT, we are able to detect the acoustic signal using a commercial microphone. The acoustic power detected is found to span a range from 0.1 to 2.4 attoWatts or 0.2 to 1 μPa of sound pressure. This corresponds to thermoacoustic efficiencies ranging from 0.007 to 0.6 Pa/W for the seven devices that were measured in this study. Here, the small lateral dimensions of these devices cause large heat losses due to thermal conduction, which result in the relatively small observed thermoacoustic efficiencies.
authors.affiliation: ∥The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, California 90245, United States.
authors.forename: Blake J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Mason
authors.forename: Shun-Wen
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Jihan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Stephen B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Cronin
authors.affiliation: ∥The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, California 90245, United States.
authors.forename: Adam W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Bushmaker
keywords: CNT; loudspeaker; thermal conduction; thermoacoustic; transduction