Low-temperature growth of single-wall carbon nanotubes

The low-temperature synthesis (450-560 deg. C) of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) on a triple-layered catalyst, Al/Fe/Mo, was performed using aromatic hydrocarbon radicals which were produced from the pyrolysis of C2H2. Two approaches were used; in the first, these hydrocarbon radicals were produced using a high-temperature heater (830 deg. C), but the substrate where the SWCNTs were grown was placed on a thermal insulator above it such that the substrate was at a much lower temperature. In the second approach, a heated nozzle system operating at 830 deg. C was used to introduce the hydrocarbon radicals onto the substrate which was located a few centimetres below it. Both these approaches rely on the thermal dissociation and recombination of C2H2 for the formation of complex high-order radicals, i.e. C6H9, C5H9, C6H13, whose presence was confirmed by in situ mass spectroscopy. The density of SWCNTs deposited could be correlated directly with the concentration of these precursors