Large-scale synthesis of arrays of high-aspect-ratio rigid vertically aligned carbon nanofibres

A. V. Melechko, T. E. McKnight, D. K. Hensley, M. A. Guillorn, A. Y. Borisevich, V. I. Merkulov, D. H. Lowndes, M. L. Simpson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

71 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report on techniques for catalytic synthesis of rigid, high-aspect-ratio, vertically aligned carbon nanofibres by dc plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition that are tailored for applications that require arrays of individual fibres that feature long fibre lengths (up to 20 μm) such as scanning probe microscopy, penetrant cell and tissue probing arrays and mechanical insertion approaches for gene delivery to cell cultures. We demonstrate that the definition of catalyst nanoparticles is the critical step that enables growth of individual, long-length fibres and discuss methods for catalyst particle preparation that allow the growth of individual isolated nanofibres from catalyst dots with diameters as large as 500 nm. This development enables photolithographic definition of catalyst and therefore the inexpensive, large-scale production of such arrays.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1029-1035
Number of pages7
JournalNanotechnology
Volume14
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2003

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