Patent ID: 7276266

Claim:
A method for functionalizing a collection of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), the method comprising: irradiating a precursor gas to provide a plurality of selected target particles in a first chamber having a first selected chamber pressure p1; providing a collection of CNTs on a substrate in a second chamber having a second selected pressure p2, where p2 lies in a range of about between p1/500≦p2≦p1/100; providing a particle communication mechanism that allows transport of at least a portion of the target particles from the first chamber to the second chamber, wherein the mechanism is configured so that transport of ultraviolet radiation from the first chamber to the second chamber is suppressed by providing an elongated aperture, having an aperture central axis and an aperture side wall and connecting the first and second chambers; wherein at least one of the following present: (i) the aperture central axis is aligned off-axis so that substantially no ultraviolet radiation that is produced within the first chamber can move in a single straight line from the first chamber to the second chamber, (ii) the aperture central axis is curvilinear, and is provided with sufficient curvature so that substantially no ultraviolet radiation that is produced within the first chamber can move in a single straight line from the first chamber to the second chamber, and (iii) the aperture central axis has at least one bend point at which a direction of the central axis changes abruptly so that substantially no ultraviolet radiation that is produced within the first chamber can move in a single straight line from the first chamber to the second chamber; and allowing at least one of the target particles to become chemically attached to at least one of the CNTs in the second chamber.