ABSTRACT
Since the discovery of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by Sumio Iijima 33 we witness an explosive development of the nanotube science and technology. Considering the rapid progress made in the fabrication, manipulation, characterization and modeling of nanostructures based on nano tubes, it is reasonable to expect that CNTs will pervade in the following years key application areas such as energy, materials, devices, and several others. There is a great variety of appllications for which nanotubes represent a disruptive potential, ranging from energy storage, composites, nanoelectronics and other solid-state devices, to sensors and actuators (see for example the reviews by Baughman et al. 5 ; Loiseau et al. 42 ).
