Carbon Nanotubes Covalently Attached to Functionalized Surfaces Directly through the Carbon Cage

Abstract

The covalent attachment of nonfunctionalized and carboxylic acid-functionalized carbon nanotubes to amine-terminated organic monolayers on gold and silicon surfaces is investigated. It is well established that the condensation reaction between a carboxylic acid and an amine is a viable method to anchor carbon nanotubes to solid substrates. The work presented here shows that the presence of the carboxylic group on the nanotube is not required for attachment to occur, as direct attachment via the substrate amine and the nanotube cage can take place. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy confirm the presence of carbon nanotubes in intimate contact with the surface. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy is utilized to compare the surface chemistry of the functionalized and nonfunctionalized carbon nanotubes and is supported by a computational investigation. Ion fragments attributed to the direct attachment between the surface and carbon nanotube cage are detected by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry. The overall attachment scheme is evaluated and can be further used on multiple carbonaceous materials attached to solid substrates.

Facile Photo-cross-linking System for Polymeric Gate Dielectric Materials toward Solution-Processed Organic Field-Effect Transistors: Role of a Cross-linker in Various Polymer Types

“…First, BGTC FET structures such as that in Figure b were prepared by sequential deposition of an Al gate electrode and a 4FCOC dielectric layer. To fabricate an active layer composed of a printable carbon nanotube (CNT) material, a (3-aminopropyl)­triethoxysilane (APTES) SAM treatment was applied to the dielectric surface to functionalize the surface with −NH 2 groups covalently attached to the CNTs (see the Supporting Note #2 with Figure S19a of the Supporting Information). , As illustrated in Figure S19a, the APTES solvent completely destroyed the dielectric layers composed of a 4FCOC film that was not treated by UV irradiation. By contrast, real photograph observations and contact angle measurements show that the APTES treatment resulted in SAM formation on the UV-treated 4FCOC film with similar capacitance values (Figure S19b,c).…”

Chemical Bond Formation between Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotubes and Metal Substrates at Low Temperatures

“…Wet chemistry functionalization is preferential at the open ends of CNTs [70,71]. We selected carboxylic functionalization at the open ends of the CNTs, because carboxylic acid functionalization is a well-established single-step functionalization reaction for CNTs which gives a reactive end for a second molecule attachment [72]. To achieve a high carboxylic density on the CNT open ends, the functionalization time with HNO 3 (2 M) was increased to 24 h. The Raman spectra were recorded for CNT crosssections chemically attached to metal surfaces (Figure S3).…”

Creating covalent bonds between Cu and C at the interface of metal/open-ended carbon nanotubes

“…30 Furthermore, linker molecules have been used for bonding CNT tips to Al and Au. [31][32][33][34] The bond between the metal and the linker molecule is critical for utilizing linkers as intermediates for CNT-metal bonding. Most previous approaches have relied on the formation of selfassembled monolayers (SAMs) on metal surfaces for linker immobilization.…”