Electric-field-induced accumulation and alignment of carbon nanotubes

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes were grown by chemical vapor deposition. It was found that, following suspension of the nanotubes in a solvent, they could be accumulated and aligned by an inhomogeneous radio-frequency electric field in the high-field regions of an interdigitated electrode structure. Increasing capacitance and conductance of the structure, which were monitored by dielectric spectroscopy, correlated with onset and densification of microscopically visible accumulations of aligned tubes on the electrodes. Sudden and drastic increases in conductance ("bridging") were observed in some cases.