AVS 51st International Symposium
    Nanometer-scale Science and Technology Thursday Sessions
       Session NS1-ThM

Paper NS1-ThM7
Nanoscale Integration of NanoCarbons Based on Ultrananocrystalline Diamond and Carbon Nanotubes

Thursday, November 18, 2004, 10:20 am, Room 213C

Session: Nanoscale Fabrication
Presenter: X.C. Xiao, Argonne National Laboratory
Authors: X.C. Xiao, Argonne National Laboratory
O.H. Auciello, Argonne National Laboratory
J.A. Carlisle, Argonne National Laboratory
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Nanostructured carbon materials exhibit excellent physical, chemical, mechanical, tribological, and electrical and thermal transport properties that are dictated by the many different bonding configurations available to carbon. Ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD) films, and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are recently discovered nanocarbons with unique properties, and are of particular research interest and have many potential applications. Novel properties and applications could also be expected from the nanoscale integration of these two materials. We report in this study our approaches to strategically combine and control the carbon nanostructure consisting of UNCD and CNTs. Two approaches to the integration of UNCD and CNTs have been developed and the material properties evaluated. The first type is the self-assembly of carbon nanostructure based on UNCD and CNTs which were synthesized simultaneously using a single Ar/CH@sub4@ plasma chemistry in a microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition system. The ease to tailor the nanostructure through adjustment of the nucleation conditions (the relative fraction of nanodiamond seeds for growing UNCD and transition metal catalyst for growing CNTs) as well as the growth temperatures offers a new possibility to form carbon based self assembly nanostructures with unique combined mechanical and electronic properties. In the second approach CNTs are grown directly on UNCD thin films, again through the use of transition metal catalyst dispersed on the UNCD surface and the use of Ar/CH@sub4@ plasmas. The robust integration of vertically aligned CNTs on UNCD combined two desirable electrochemical properties of CNTs and UNCD, i.e. the high specific surface area from CNTs and electrochemical stability from UNCD. Preliminary structure characterization and property studies illustrated the potential of this structure to be used as electrochemical electrodes for chemical sensing applications and in supercapacitors.