Electrodeposition of Carbon Nanotubes

Wide applications of carbon nanotubes such as, catalysts, sensors and bed of various reactions are based on their unique physical, chemical and mechanical properties which show the high electrical and thermal conductivities as well as high mechanical strength along the tubular axis [1]. A number of techniques are available to synthesis carbon nanotubes(CNTs), the most common of which are Arc-discharg technique[2], Laser ablation[3] and Chemical Vapour Deposition[4]. However, all these synthesis techniques inherently produce carbon nanotubes along with various impurities with the form of amorphous carbon, metal catalysts and many carboneous particles, etc. It needed further purification to produce high quality CNTs for device applications. All these purification methods lead to the CNTs containing various defects on their surfaces which profoundly affect their properties and in turn the device performance. So the challenge still lies on the large scale synthesis of CNTs directly onto the wafer/substrate in their purest form and in a very cost-effective way. In recent years, more attention has been paid to electrochemical deposition technique due to its simplicity, low capital equipment cost and ability to be scaled up for large production. Also this technique would allow coating on irregular surfaces[5]. In this work, electrodeposition was employed to produce carbon nanotubes directly onto the Si(100) from aqueous solution at room temperature and deposition of tubes was optimized by varying conditions (preparing of substrate surface, potential and time of deposition