Humidity sensing by carbon nanocones.

Carbon nano-structures, mainly nanotubes, have been explored in the past as sensing devices. In this report we have considered cones and discs (CNCs) subjected to acid treatment, dry oxidation and high temperature annealing, to study the modifications induced as they are used as sensing elements of varying relative humidity (RH). The relative humidity was varied in cycles of 30 min between 36% and 75%. Not strangely, the acid treated films displayed a much larger variation in resistance for the same difference in RH (16%). In the as-grown material, very small variations were detected among cycles under similar conditions. The changes induced in the sensors structures by the different preparation procedures were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Raman reflexion. These results were used to model their behaviour as RH sensors.

Conductivity enhancement in carbon nanocone adhesive by electric field induced formation of aligned assemblies.

We show how an alternating electric field can be used to assemble carbon nanocones (CNCs) and align these assemblies into microscopic wires in a commercial two-component adhesive. The wires form continuous pathways that may electrically connect the alignment electrodes, which leads to directional conductivity (∼10(-3) S/m) on a macroscopic scale. This procedure leads to conductivity enhancement of at least 2-3 orders of magnitude in the case where the CNC fraction (∼0.2 vol %) is 1 order of magnitude below the percolation threshold (∼2 vol %). The alignment and conductivity are maintained on curing that joins the alignment electrodes permanently together. If the aligned CNC wires are damaged before curing, they can be realigned by an extended alignment period. This concept has implications in areas such as electronic packaging technology.