Nanoscale coaxial cables produced from vertically aligned carbon nanotube arrays grown via chemical vapor deposition and coated with indium tin oxide via ion assisted deposition

A highly conformal homogeneous indium tin oxide (ITO) thin film coating has been produced on vertically aligned carbon nanotube arrays by ion assisted deposition. The deposition process generates, in effect, a coaxial cable structure of ITO about a carbon nanotube. The deposited ITO films are uniformly 5 nm thick and have high crystallinity and excellent optical absorption properties, indicating they would be good candidates for use in solar cells, flexible electronics and displays. The materials are analyzed by scanning and transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and visual light spectrometry.