Nanoelectrode Scanning Probes from\nFluorocarbon-Coated Single-Walled\nCarbon Nanotubes

Abstract

We have developed a method to coat single-walled carbon nanotubes attached to AFM tips with conformal fluorocarbon polymer films formed\nin an inductively coupled plasma reactor. The polymer provides a chemically inert and electrically insulating outer layer and mechanically\nstabilizes the attached nanotube sufficiently to enable imaging in liquids without the need for an intervening adhesive. Electrical pulse etching\nof the insulating coating exclusively at the nanotube tip end results in well-defined highly conductive nanoelectrodes. For these probes, the\nconductive properties of the nanotubes are not affected by the coating. Some nanoelectrodes behave as rectifying diodes, which may be\ndeveloped into novel molecular devices integrated onto scanning probes.