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No passing through

No passing through a team of Indian and us researchers has created a tiny filter, which is entirely made of carbon atoms and has several applications ranging from sieving out the minutest germs in drinking water to filtering unwanted hydrocarbons in petroleum products.

The cylindrical filter that has been prepared by the New York-based Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (rpi) and India's Banaras Hindu University (bhu) is made of carbon nanotubes, which are very strong and can withstand high temperatures. But they are difficult to use because they are extremely small (see box: Small wonder)

Scientists led by Pulickel M Ajayan of rpi and O N Srivastava of bhu found a solution to the problem of the size of carbon nanotubes by devising a method to make large-scale structures. The researchers injected a solution of benzene and ferrocene

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