Electrothermal bonding of carbon nanotubes to glass

Applications that exploit the exceptional properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) at practical length scales almost invariably involve the fundamental issues of nanotube-to-surface contacts; indeed, interface properties often dominate mechanical, electrical, and thermal performance in devices and materials based on CNTs. In this paper we present a method to attach CNTs to glass surfaces and investigate the mechanism of bonding at the interface. An electric field which induces migration of alkali ions from glass into CNTs, with a reversed polarity as compared to an analogous anodic bonding configuration, is employed to form a chemical bond between nanotubes and glass. We report a pull-off force of 4.35 N/cm(2) averaged over the bonded area, with the possibility of localized areas of higher bonding strength. (C) 2008 The Electrochemical Society.