Low defect density is important in forming materials that take advantage of the enhanced electrical and physical properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs).  For electronic materials, reduced defect density results in greater conductance and control over the reproducibility of the electrical and electrochemical properties of SWNT networks.  A novel method of separating low-defect, high aspect ratio SWNTs from catalyst and soot particles that remain after their growth will be presented.  A unique deposition method that uses unidirectional airflow to deposit SWNTs from thin-films of aqueous suspensions allows the deposition of controllable densities of SWNTs onto chemically modified surfaces without allowing bundle formation.  This allows the formation of a low-density network of interconnected SWNTs that can serve as electrochemical substrates for the direct growth of semiconductor nanostructures.  When the SWNTs in a network are spaced such that the electrochemical diffusion layer for each nanotube does not overlap, hemispherical diffusion dominates.  The role that the enhanced current and diffusion, as well as the reduced capacitance, under these conditions plays in the electrochemical growth of copper oxide nanostructures is under investigation.  The growth of highly branched copper oxide �nanourchins� under these conditions will be discussed.  The dominate oxidation state of copper was observed to change with the size and morphology of the nanourchins.  Size gradients in the electrodeposited nanostructures could be attributed to the network resistance increasing with size due to the high resistance points presented by inter-SWNT tunnel junctions.

Direct electrochemical growth of carbon nanotube/semiconductor constructs for enhanced electron transfer

247th National Meeting (2014)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.