The fabrication of nanoelectrodes based on a single carbon nanotube.

Nanoelectrodes are fabricated from individual carbon nanotubes (CNTs) connected to tungsten probes or carbon fibers. The whole electrode was covered by an insulating HfO(2) layer except for a section of conducting CNT at the apex. The fabrication process includes mounting individual CNTs to the conductive support through nanomanipulation, coating the whole probe by a dielectric layer using atomic layer deposition and removing the dielectric layer at the apex through a nanomanipulation process. Differential pulse voltammetry and cyclic voltammetry measurements show the CNT nanoelectrode has similar electrochemical behavior to the widely used carbon fiber probe, but has a much smaller active electrode area and can provide much higher spatial resolution and signal-to-noise ratio.