The electrochemical behavior of needle-like and forest-like single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) electrodes, wet-chemically assembled on a gold substrate, were investigated by cyclic voltammetry and single potential time-based techniques. The results indicate that a SWCNT electrode system exhibits quasi-reversible behavior, and SWCNT electrodes exhibit better electrochemical behavior than bare gold electrodes. A forest-like SWCNT electrode possesses the best electrochemical behavior. This is explained using Randle's equivalent circuit unit during the electron-transfer process between the redox centre and the SWCNT electrode surface, and an alternative electron-transfer mechanism was suggested for the observed electrochemical properties. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.