Scanning tunneling microscopy of aligned coaxial nanowires of polyaniline passivated carbon nanotubes

We present room temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) investigati ons of well-aligned, polyaniline passivated, multiwall carbon nanotubes (MW CNT). STM topographic images show that nanotubes are partially covered with the conducting polymer. On atomically resolved scale we observed an array of caps with round shape that are separated by polyaniline. Differences in the electronic conduction between nanotubes and the polymer suggest that th is method could be used to synthesize large-scale nanodevices. (C) 2001 Els evier Science B.V. All rights reserved.