US Patent 7323730 - Semiconductor nanowire or nanotube functionalized with photosensitive material

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7323730.html

Much of the research in functionalization of carbon nanotubes has been applied to chemical sensing. This patent from France's Atomic Energy Commision also teaches functionalization of carbon nanotubes (or nanowires) but for optical rather than chemical sensing. Claim 1 reads:

1. A semiconductor device comprising at least two electrodes and at least one nanotube or nanowire, the device including at least one semiconductive nanotube or nanowire having at least one region that is covered at least in part by one to twenty layers of molecules or by nanocrystals of at least one photosensitive material, an electrical connection between said two electrodes being made by said semiconductive nanotube or nanowire and optionally by at least one other nanotube or nanowire.