Carbon nanotubes are studied for their potential applications in energy storage, particularly electrochemical supercapacitors with high power and high energy density applications. The explanation for this behaviour is due to their extremely high surface area to volume ratio as well as their chemical and mechanical stability. They also present a great interest as electrodes for many applications including fuel cells, electrocatalysis and chemical/biological sensing since the carbon nanotube surface easily can be modified either by physisorption or by covalent functionalization. CNTs are synthesized by the CCVD process, where you can have a selective growth on various substrates due to the cost-effectiveness stability and the repeatability of the process.

When manufacturing the carbon nanotube as the electron source, two methods are currently used. Either it is possible to print the material made into a paste or to allow the material to grow directly on the substrate.The former method is easy in processing but it is limited to making high-resolution panels. Moreover there are some problems; a) it is difficult to form the nanotubes perpendicular to the substrate, b) it is necessary to remove the residual material like binder, and c) it is difficult to keep the good uniformity and high density of the emission sites. On the other hand, the latter can easily be achieved by the selective growth, by patterning a catalyst metal layer. However there still remain several challenges; a) a limited choice of substrate materials due to the high growth temperature and, b) is it difficult to keep uniformity over the large area (1).

The aim of this work is to grow CNTs directly on electrodes, such as foils of graphite, stainless steel and titanium foils in order to minimize the contact between the active material and the current collector and also to simplify a possible electrode fabrication process.

(1) Itoh, S., et al., J. of V. Sci.Tech. B, 2004. 22(3): p. 1362-1366.

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