New carbon nanotube technology reported

COVENTRY, England, May 8 (UPI) -- British scientists say they've created a technology that can produce carbon nanotubes that instantly form a highly sensitive, ready-made electric circuit.

The University of Warwick researchers said they used a form of chemical vapor deposition and lithography to create the disc shaped, single walled carbon nanotube-based ultra-microelectrodes.

The scientists said the nanotubes deposit themselves flat on a surface in a random, but relatively even, manner. They also all overlap sufficiently to create a single complete metallic micro-circuit across the final disc. What is even more impressive, said the researchers, is that they take up less than one percent of the surface area of the disc.

The scientists said the technology might be of use in many applications, including becoming ultra sensitive sensors that could measure levels of neurotransmitters.

The low surface area of the conducting part of the discs means they can be used to screen out background "noise" and cope with low signal to noise ratios,making them up to 1,000 times more sensitive and responding 10 times faster than conventional ultra-microelectrodes.

The research that included Neil Wilson and Professors Julie Macpherson and Patrick Unwin appears in the journal Analytical Chemistry.