Directed assembly of highly-organized carbon nanotube architectures
AssigneeRensselaer Polytechnic Institute
InventorsPulickel M. Ajayan, G. Ramanath, Bingqing Wei, Anyuan Cao, Yung Joon Jung
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Abstract
A method of controllably aligning carbon nanotubes to a template structure to fabricate a variety of carbon nanotube containing structures and devices having desired characteristics is provided. The method allows simultaneous, selective growth of both vertically and horizontally controllably aligned nanotubes on the template structure but not on a substrate in a single process step.
Claims63
A structure, comprising:
- a substrate;
- a template structure located on the substrate, wherein the template structure comprises at least two surfaces;
- a first plurality of carbon nanotubes disposed on a first surface of the template structure, wherein the first plurality of carbon nanotubes are controllably aligned in a first direction perpendicular to the first surface of the template structure;
- and
- a second plurality of carbon nanotubes disposed on a second surface of the template structure, wherein the second plurality of carbon nanotubes are controllably aligned in a second direction perpendicular to the second surface of the template structure, such that the first direction is different than the second direction.
A structure, comprising:
- a substrate;
- a template structure located on the substrate, wherein the template structure comprises at least one side surface with an oblique inclination which is neither orthogonal nor parallel with respect to an upper plane of the substrate;
- and
- a first plurality of carbon nanotubes located on the at least one side surface of the template structure, wherein the first plurality of carbon nanotubes comprise a membrane having an open truncated cone shape.
A porous carbon nanotube film comprising:
- a plurality of carbon nanotubes aligned lengthwise in a first direction;
- and
- a plurality of first pores extending through the film in the first direction.
An article of manufacture comprising a plurality oxide particles containing carbon nanotubes on the oxide particle surfaces, wherein the carbon nanotubes are aligned perpendicular to the oxide particle surfaces.
A structure, comprising:
- a substrate;
- a template structure located on the substrate;
- a masking material covering a first portion of the template structure;
- and
- a first plurality of carbon nanotubes located on a second portion of the template structure not covered by the masking material, wherein carbon nanotubes are not located on the masking material or on exposed portions of the substrate.
A method of making carbon nanotubes, comprising:
- providing a substrate containing a template structure having at least two surfaces;
- providing a nanotube source gas onto the template structure;
- and
- selectively and simultaneously growing the carbon nanotubes on the at least two surfaces of the template structure but not on exposed portions of the substrate such that the grown carbon nanotubes are controllably aligned in a direction perpendicular to a respective surface of the template structure.
A method of making carbon nanotubes, comprising:
- providing a substrate containing a template structure, wherein the template structure comprises at least one inclined surface with an oblique inclination which is neither orthogonal nor parallel with respect to an upper plane of the substrate;
- providing a nanotube source gas onto the template structure;
- and
- selectively growing the carbon nanotubes on the inclined surface of the template structure but not on exposed portions of the substrate, such that the grown carbon nanotubes comprise a membrane having an open truncated cone shape.
A method of making a porous carbon nanotube film, comprising:
- providing a substrate containing a porous template layer on the substrate, such that portions of the substrate are exposed through pores in the porous template layer;
- providing a nanotube source gas onto the porous template layer;
- and
- selectively growing the carbon nanotubes on the porous template layer but not on portions of the substrate exposed through pores in the porous template layer to form the porous carbon nanotube film.
A method of making carbon nanotubes, comprising:
- providing a substrate containing a template structure having at least a portion covered by a masking material;
- providing a nanotube source gas onto the template structure;
- and
- selectively growing the carbon nanotubes on an exposed portion of the template structure but not on exposed portions of the substrate.
A method of making carbon nanotubes, comprising:
- providing a first material which facilitates growth of carbon nanotubes;
- covering at least a portion of the first material with a masking material;
- providing a nanotube source gas onto the first material;
- and
- growing the carbon nanotubes of a first length on an exposed portion of the first material while simultaneously either growing carbon nanotubes of a second length less than the first length on the masking material or not growing carbon nanotubes on the masking material.
A method of making carbon nanotubes, comprising:
- providing a growth surface which facilitates growth of carbon nanotubes;
- providing a nanotube source gas onto the growth surface;
- and
- controllably growing the carbon nanotubes of different length during a same deposition step.
A method of making carbon nanotubes, comprising:
- providing a substrate containing a template structure comprising alumina, indium tin oxide, silicon oxynitride, gold or copper;
- providing a nanotube source gas onto the template structure;
- and
- selectively growing the nanotubes on the template structure but not on exposed portions of the substrate.
A method of making a device containing carbon nanotubes, comprising:
- providing a substrate containing a template structure;
- providing a nanotube source gas onto the template structure;
- selectively growing a carbon nanotube structure on the template structure but not on exposed portions of the substrate;
- removing the carbon nanotube structure from the substrate;
- and
- placing the carbon nanotube structure into the device.
A structure comprising:
- at least one suspended template material layer;
- a first aligned carbon nanotube layer located on a first surface of the template material layer;
- and
- a second aligned carbon nanotube layer located on a second surface of the template material layer, located opposite to the first surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.