Thermal decomposition of ferrocene as a method for production of single-walled carbon nanotubes without additional carbon sources.
A new method to grow bulk quantities of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) by a catalytic chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process with the possibility of varying the pressure has been developed and is reported in this paper. Thermal decomposition of ferrocene provides both catalytic particles and carbon sources for SWCNT growth using Ar as a carrier gas. Upon an increase in the pressure, the mean diameter of the SWCNTs decreases. In fact, high abundances of SWCNT with diameters as small as 0.7 nm, which is the limit for stable caps with isolated pentagons, can be obtained. An additional advantage of this method is that as no external carbon sources are required, SWCNT synthesis can be achieved at temperatures as low as 650 degrees C.
Barreiro
Amelia
A
IFW Dresden, P.O. Box 270116, D-01171 Dresden, Germany. a.barreiro@ifw-dresden.de
Hampel
Silke
S
Rümmeli
Mark H
MH
Kramberger
Christian
C
Grüneis
Alexander
A
Biedermann
Kati
K
Leonhardt
Albrecht
A
Gemming
Thomas
T
Büchner
Bernd
B
Bachtold
Adrian
A
Pichler
Thomas
T