Nanoscale diodes composed of single-walled carbon nanotube and physically adsorbed organic molecule nanoparticles

Single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) was physically adsorbed by several kinds of particles including porphyrin, naphthalenediimide (NDI) and polyoxometalate (POM). Nanoscale electrical properties of the complexes were measured by point-contact current imaging atomic force microscopy (PCI-AFM), and rectification appeared at the interface of particle and SWNT. Rectification ratio (RR) and plateau width (PW) could be controlled by the particle size of NDI. Reversible rectification direction was observed in the case of POM. Charge transfer between SWNT (Pt cantilever) and nanoparticle was considered as the reason of rectification.