Humidity sensing by carbon nanocones.

Carbon nano-structures, mainly nanotubes, have been explored in the past as sensing devices. In this report we have considered cones and discs (CNCs) subjected to acid treatment, dry oxidation and high temperature annealing, to study the modifications induced as they are used as sensing elements of varying relative humidity (RH). The relative humidity was varied in cycles of 30 min between 36% and 75%.

Conductivity enhancement in carbon nanocone adhesive by electric field induced formation of aligned assemblies.

We show how an alternating electric field can be used to assemble carbon nanocones (CNCs) and align these assemblies into microscopic wires in a commercial two-component adhesive. The wires form continuous pathways that may electrically connect the alignment electrodes, which leads to directional conductivity (∼10(-3) S/m) on a macroscopic scale. This procedure leads to conductivity enhancement of at least 2-3 orders of magnitude in the case where the CNC fraction (∼0.