Electrical Characterization of Single Carbon Nanowires

We present experimental results on the electrical characterization of single semiconducting carbon nanowires using microfabricated electrodes. The material tested is classified as nanoporous carbon and is a class of amorphous carbonaceous material. Because of amorphous nature of this system the properties of the carbon nanowires are not similar to other crystalline carbon nanowire systems such as carbon nanotubes and graphitic carbon nanowires. Synthesis, experimental characterization techniques and the electron transport mechanism are discussed in this paper. Applications for this carbonaceous material include size-selective catalysis [1, 2], flexible electronic components and as gas sensors [3].