Methods of making carbon nanopipes and ductwork with nanometric walls

A method of making a carbon nanopipe and ensemble of carbon nanopipes, comprising the steps of:

• flowing a carbon precursor over silica fibers and thereby depositing a durable graphitizable carbon coating of tunable thickness of about 10-500 nm onto the silica fibers by concomitant pyrolysis at about 1000° C.;
• and
• etching away the silica fibers to yield a three-dimensional mat of electronically networked, hollow carbon tubules;
• controlling by a two-stage gas manifold the atmosphere of the step of depositing wherein stage 1 is purging the reaction chamber with pure argon flowing at 100 mL min−1 as measured at the exhaust and stage 2 is introducing the carbon precursor;
• wherein the silica fibers are three-dimensionally interwoven or physically entangled fibers having diameters of about <1 μm;
• wherein the carbon precursor is selected from the group consisting of benzene, naphthalene, and acetonitrile;
• wherein the tubule has an inner pipe diameter that can be determined by the diameter of the silica fiber and a wall thickness defined by the depth of the carbon coating;
• wherein the carbon precursor is a vapor in Ar(g) as it flows over the silica fibers;
• wherein the step of flowing a carbon precursor over silica fibers and thereby depositing a durable graphitizable carbon coating of tunable thickness occurs at a rate of about 10-15 nm min−1.