Branched carbon nanotubes to realize a novel capacitive sensor and actuator device

Novel, high capacitance interdigital structures based on branched carbon nanotubes (B-CNTs) are realized using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Extensive overlapping between parallel fingers due to the branched carbon nanostructures leads to high capacitance values in the fabricated interdigital structures. A significant rise in the capacitance up to 100 times is reported by means of branched carbon nanotubes. The high electron emission of such nanostructures over regular CNTs can be applied to realize high sensitivity sensors. To investigate the functionality of fabricated B-CNT-based actuator, both sensor and actuator configurations have been designed on a silicon-based membrane and the electromechanical response of the whole structure has been investigated. These structures show a superior actuation behavior owing to their high capacitance due to extensive overlapping fingers. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.