Via KurzweilAI.net — I’ll just let the quoted bit below do all the explaining …
A Stellar, Metal-Free Way to Make Carbon Nanotubes Physorg.com, Feb. 22, 2010 A new method of growing carbon nanotubes without requiring platinum or another metal as a catalyst has been developed by researchers at NASA’s Goddard Center.
The carbon nanotubes are produced when graphite dust particles are exposed to a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen gases.
The method was suggested by a 2008 discovery that the long, thin carbon structures known as graphite whiskers — essentially, bigger cousins of carbon nanotubes — were identified in three meteorites. Researchers suspect that it could have produced at least some of the simple carbon-based compounds in the early solar system.
The work also could help researchers understand puzzling observations about some supernovas.
Nanotubes grown on graphite (Yuki Kimura, Tohoku University)
