Nanopatterning of catalyst by Dip Pen nanolithography (DPN) for synthesis of carbon nanotubes (CNT)

Carbon nanotubes (CNT) were synthesized on nanopatterned catalysts. The catalyst nanoparticles were obtained using dip pen nanolithographytechnique. Dip pen nanolithography technique was used to deposit NiCl₂ nanopatterns with sub-200 nm feature sizes on a silicon substrate. The deposited features were verified by using lateral force microscopy. The substrate was then placed in a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition instrument to synthesize CNT. The synthesized CNT were characterized using scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. SCANNING 32: 42–48, 2010. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.