Soft-lithography-mediated chemical vapor deposition of architectured carbon nanotube networks on elastomeric polymer

Abstract

The ability to develop highly site-selective and in situ orientation-controlled growth of carbon nanotubes on novel substrates such as elastomeric polymers may provide new opportunities in both fundamental research and practical applications. A soft-lithography-mediated approach has been used in combination with the surface wetting manipulation to selectively immobilize solution-based catalyst precursors for growing highly regular microarrays of multiwalled carbon nanotubes with controlled morphologies on elastomeric poly(dimethylsiloxane) substrates. The thermal shrinking property of poly(dimethylsiloxane) at elevated temperatures allows the possibility of fabricating three-dimensionally complex intertwined networks of carbon nanotubes, which may be utilized as a basic matrix for integration with flexible polymeric frameworks to fabricate flexible nanodevices, such as highly sensitive electrochemical and chemical gas sensors.