Nanostructured carbon films from supersonic cluster beam deposition: Structure and morphology

Nanostructured carbon thin films have been grown by deposition of cluster beams produced by a supersonic expansion. Due to separation effects typical of supersonic beams, films with different nanostructures can be grown by the simple intercepting of different regions of the cluster beam with a substrate. Films show a low-density porous structure, which has been characterized by Raman and Brillouin spectroscopy. Film morphology suggests that growth processes are similar to those occurring in a ballistic deposition regime.

Enzyme-free glucose biosensor based on low density CNT forest grown directly on a Si/SiO2 substrate

A highly sensitive nonenzymatic amperometric glucose sensor was fabricated by using Ni nanoparticles homogeneously dispersed within and on the top of a vertically aligned CNT forest (CNT/Ni nanocomposite sensor), which was directly grown on a Si/SiO2 substrate. The surface morphology and elemental analysis were characterized using scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy, respectively. Cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry were used to evaluate the catalytic activities of CNT/Ni electrode. The CNT/Ni nanocomposite sensor exhibited a great enhancement of anodic peak current after adding 5 mM glucose in alkaline solution. The sensor can also be applied to the quantification of glucose content with a linear range covering from 5 μM to 7 mM, a high sensitivity of 1433 μA mM-1 cm-2, and a low detection limit of 2 μM. The CNT/Ni nanocomposite sensor exhibits good reproducibility and long-term stability, moreover, it was also relatively insensitive to commonly interfering species, such as uric acid, ascorbic acid, acetaminophen, sucrose and d-fructose. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.