Carbon Nanotubes As Electronic Connections Between Molecules and Substrates

Carbon nanotube (CNT) electrodes for electrochemistry were fabricated by chemical anchoring directly CNTs to various substrates to produce vertically-aligned shortened architectures.  The electrodes were subsequently covalently loaded with various molecules including ferrocenes, porphyrins and peptides.  The electron transfer (ET) capabilities were probed with cyclic voltammetry.  Generally CNT electrodes comprised of double-walled CNTs (DWCNTs) demonstrated significantly higher peak current compared to their single-walled counterparts (SWCNTs) suggesting that DWCNTs may offer a useful alternative to SWCNTs in future electrochemical sensors and biosensors.