Direct growth of single walled carbon nanotubes on paper

This work presents the methodology to synthesize single-walled carbon nanotubes and place them directly on paper utilizing a micro chemical vapor deposition (μCVD) system. In contrast to conventional CNTs (carbon nanotubes) synthesis in high temperature furnaces, the technique of μCVD with localized heating provides the foundation for the direct growth of CNTs on paper. Experimentally, self-aligned CNTs have been directly deposited on printer papers and plastic substrates with a 10-min growth process without damaging these temperature-sensitive substrates. As such, this technique could find potential applications CNT-based high performance electronics on low-cost substrates.