Surfactant-free dielectrophoretic deposition of multi-walled carbon nanotubes with tunable deposition density

Abstract

The effects of AC field strength and AC frequency on the density of dielectrophoretically deposited multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were investigated and explained in terms of existing theory. We show that while both parameters can be used to control deposition density, the experimentally observed frequency trend can not be explained by the theoretical Clausius–Mossotti factors. We demonstrate the ability to make surfactant-free dispersions of long, difficult to disperse MWCNTs and use them with dielectrophoresis to make clean, single and few connections between electrodes.