US Patent 7939136 - Forming arrays of CNTs

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7939136.html

This patent from Rice University has priority going back to 1997 and includes some basic claims to forming large arrays of carbon nanotubes on a substrate. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method of forming a macroscopic array of fullerene nanotubes, said method comprising the step of assembling subarrays of at least about 106 fullerene nanotubes into a composite array, wherein the subarrays are made according to the method comprising:

(a) providing at least about 1000000 fullerene nanotubes of substantially similar length;

(b) introducing a linking moiety onto at least one end of the fullerene nanotubes;

(c) providing a substrate coated with a material to which the linking moiety will attach; and

(d) contacting the fullerene nanotubes containing the linking moiety with the substrate.