Synthesis of Aligned Single-Walled Nanotubes Using Catalysts Defined by Nanosphere Lithography

We have extended nanolithography into deep submicrometer regime to obtain packing of 50, 100, and 200 nm polystyrene nanospheres, which were then successfully employed to produce highly ordered catalyst nanoparticles with narrow size distributions. We have further combined NSL and photolithography to grow highly aligned single-walled carbon nanotubes atop quartz and sapphire substrates. This method has great potential to produce carbon nanotube arrays with simultaneous control over the nanotube orientation, position, density, diameter, and even chirality, which may work as building blocks for future nanoelectronics and ultra-high-speed electronics.