Growth of carbon nanotube branches by electrochemical decoration of carbon nanotubes

Recently we have proposed to electrochemically deposit Ni catalyst particles on conducting surfaces in order to grow carbon nanotube (CNT) interconnects by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). In this paper, we propose to reiterate the electrochemical deposition of Ni particles in order to decorate as grown CNTs and produce CNT branches by a second CVD step. Ni particles with diameters in the order of 30 nm are able to nucleate secondary CNTs, thus forming CNT branches by CVD at temperatures of about 600°C. Our method may be used to produce novel three terminal devices such as switches and frequency generators. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.