High Yield Growth of Patterned Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotubes Using Inkjet-Printed Catalyst

This study reports on the fabrication of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes localized at specific sites on a growth substrate by deposition of a nanoparticle suspension using inkjet printing. Carbon nanotubes were grown with high yield as vertically aligned forests to a length of approximately 400 mu m. The use of inkjet printing for catalyst fabrication considerably improves the production rate of vertically aligned patterned nanotube forests compared with conventional patterning techniques, for example, electron beam lithography or photolithography.