Due to chemically active surface and stability at high temperatures carbon nanotubes have been used as a support material for the dispersion and stabilization of metal and semiconductor nanoparticles (NPs). These nanocomposite materials have found several applications in catalysis, nanoelectronics, optics, nanobiotechnology, etc. Especially, the decoration of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) with metal nanoclusters of gold, palladium, iron, cobalt and nickel can be applied to the growth of complex conductor networks in microelectronic devices.

Here we present the studies on preparations and characterizations of Au-MWNT nanocomposites, which were prepared with positively charged gold nanoparticles (GNP) and negatively charged MWNTs in water solutions. Sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS), sodium poly(styrene sulfonate) (PSS) and poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) were used as stabilizers for the negatively charged MWNT dispersions in water. UV-Vis spectra, XPS, and TEM were used to characterize the nanocomposites. The difference of MWNT-wrapped outer organics gave somewhat different results on Au-MWNT interactions. We can apparently compare the difference of Au-MWNT interactions by TEM images and XPS. In addition, we will discuss Au-MWNT interactions chemically and structurally in this presentation.