| abstract |
The methods, apparatus and systems disclosed herein concern ordered arrays of carbon nanotubes. In particular embodiments of the invention, the nanotube arrays are formed by a method comprising attaching catalyst nanoparticles (140, 230) to polymer (120, 210) molecules, attaching the polymer (120, 210) molecules to a substrate, removing the polymer (120, 210) molecules and producing carbon nanotubes on the catalyst nanoparticles (140, 230). The polymer (120, 210) molecules alignment techniques. The nanotube arrays can be attached to selected areas (110, 310) of the substrate. Within the selected areas (110, 310), the nanotubes are distributed non-randomly. Other embodiments disclosed herein concern apparatus that include ordered arrays of nanotubes attached to a substrate and systems that include ordered arrays of carbon nanotubes attached to a substrate, produced by the claimed methods. In certain embodiments, provided herein are methods for aligning a molecular wire, by ligating the molecular wire to a double stranded DNA molecule. |