Abstract
Carbon nanotube (CNT) is an attractive material for needle-like conducting electrodes because it has high electrical conductivity and mechanical strength. However, CNTs cannot provide the desired properties in certain applications. To obtain micro- and nanoneedles having the desired properties, it is necessary to fabricate functional needles using various other materials. In this study, functional micro- and nanoneedle electrodes were fabricated using a tungsten tip and an atomic force microscope probe with a CNT needle template and electrodeposition. To prepare the conductive needle templates, a single-wall nanotube nanoneedle was attached onto the conductive tip using dielectrophoresis and surface tension. Through electrodeposition, Au, Ni, and polypyrrole were each coated successfully onto CNT nanoneedle electrodes to obtain the desired properties.
Highlights
With the development of nanotechnology, the demand for information about microscale systems has increased [1,2]
Carbon nanotube (CNT) is an attractive material for micro- and nanoneedle electrodes because of its unique properties, such as smalldiameter needle-like geometry, excellent mechanical properties, and high electric conductivity
CNT can be attached to the end of a metal tip or an atomic force microscope (AFM) tip using DEP [21]
Summary
With the development of nanotechnology, the demand for information about microscale systems has increased [1,2]. Electrodeposition is very useful for fabricating functional nanoneedles because various materials, such as metal [17], metal oxide [18], and polymer [19], can be coated onto the desired location of the conducting nanoneedle. We report a fabrication method for functional micro- and nanoneedles using a template of CNT nanoneedle and electrodeposition. Experimental method First, CNT nanoneedles were fabricated with a tungsten tip and an AFM tip using dielectrophoresis (DEP) and surface tension [8,20]. For the fabrication of functional micro- and nanoneedles, the desired material was coated on the CNT nanoneedle by electrodeposition (Figure 1b). Au nanoparticles were coated onto the CNT nanoneedle surface with a sweeping potential between -0.1 and +1.5 V in aqua solution containing 1 to 5 mM HAuCl4 · 4H2O and 500 mM HBO3. PPy films were deposited to anodic electrodes of a CNT nanoneedle by electropolymerization with a sweeping potential between -0.1 and +0.8 V in an electrolyte containing 50 mM KCl and 100 mM pyrrole
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