Coating carbon nanotubes with inorganic materials by pulsed laser deposition

Using pulsed laser deposition (PLD), coaxial coating of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with various inorganic materials (e.g., ZrO_x,HfO_x,AlO_x,ZnO_x, and Au) has been performed. The morphology and crystallinity of the coated layers were found to differ according to the materials used even at the same deposition temperature. For oxide materials, the deposits exhibited a uniform layer structure the composition of which was precisely controlled, while for Au, well-crystallized Au nanoparticles were observed on the CNT surface densely. Moreover, not only a single layer but also multiple layers were sequentially coated on CNTs by repeating PLD.