Electrochemical Modification of Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotube Arrays

Fabrication and characterization of polymer insulated carbon nanotube modified electrochemical nanoprobes

Electrochemical nanoprobes were fabricated from polymer insulated multiwalled carbon nanotube modified tapping mode atomic force microscope probes. An electrochemically active length of carbon nanotube was exposed by laser ablation of the insulating polymer. Characterization of these probes is done by cyclic voltammetry of ferrocenemethanol in an aqueous solution and by finite element analysis. The fabricated nanoelectrodes were found to be stable and yielded an interfacial electron transfer rate constant (k(0)) of 1.073 +/- 0.36 cm s(-1) for ferrocenemethanol.

Chemically induced potential barriers at the carbon nanotube-metal nanoparticle interface

Single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) field effect transistors were electrochemically decorated with Pt, Pd, Au, and Ag nanoparticles. Upon exposure to 10 ppm NO gas in N2 a trend was found wherein the magnitude of electron transfer into the SWNT valence band scaled with the work function of the individual metal. This trend gives experimental support for the formation of a metal work function dependent potential barrier at the SWNT--nanoparticle interface.