Catalytic CVD generation of high-purity single-walled carbon nanotubes at low temperature

Abstract

We have demonstrated the high-quality and low-temperature generation of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) by utilizing gas phase alcohols (methanol and ethanol) over iron and cobalt catalytic metal particles supported with zeolite. SWNTs were observed by SEM and TEM, and analyzed by Raman spectroscopy. Raman spectra revealed that the diameter of SWNTs had the dependency on the generation temperature and gas flow rate. In order to create nanotube devices, we tried to generate SWNTs on a silicon wafer. Very small amount of Fe/Co supported with zeolite particles was located on a silicon wafer, and SWNTs were generated by catalyst chemical vapor deposition (CCVD) technique from ethanol at 900℃. SWNTs on a silicon wafer were generated from the surface of zeolite particles and the bundles of SWNTs were running on the silicon surface.