Aligned Carbon Nanotubes by Pyrolysis of Pyrodine and Ferrocene

Abstract

Carbon nanotube (NT) growth by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) requires a catalyst -typically a transition metal- to nucleate NT growth because of the low synthesis temperatures as compared to arc-discharge or laser ablation methods. The catalyst can be introduced to the CVD system by preprepared nano-scale catalyst particles sitting on fine support powders, thin catalyst films deposited on substrates by sputter deposition, or floating catalysts. The floating-catalyst CVD method is an in-situprocess in which the organo-metallic precursors (e.g. metallocenes) decomposed to form nanoscale catalyst particles. Floating catalyst methods can produce both multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWNTs), single-wall nanotubes, and even C-N nanotubes and facilitate continuous growth processes. in this study we employ a variety of electron imaging, diffraction and spectroscopy techniques to investigate the growth mechanisms and kinetics of multi-walled NTs (MWNTs) produced by the floating-catalyst CVD method.