Abstract
ABSTRACT: We demonstrate a facile technique to electro-
phoretically deposit homogenous assemblies of single-walled
carbon nanohorns (CNHs) from common solvents such as
acetone and water onto nearly any substrate including
insulators, dielectrics, and three-dimensional metal foams, in
many cases without the aid of surfactants. This enables the
generation of pristine film-coatings formed on time scales as
short as a few seconds and on three-dimensional templates
that enable the formation of freestanding polymer-CNH
supported materials. As electrophoretic deposition is usually
only practical on conductive electrodes, we emphasize our
observation of efficient deposition on nearly any material,
including nonconductive substrates. The one-step versatility of deposition on these materials provides the capability to directly assemble CNH materials onto functional surfaces for a broad range of applications. In this manner, we utilized as-deposited CNH films as conductometric gas sensors exhibiting better sensitivity in comparison to equivalent single-walled carbon nanotube sensors. This gives a route toward scalable and inexpensive solution-based processing routes to manufacture functional nanocarbon materials for catalysis, energy, and sensing applications, among others.
