title: Thermal decomposition of ferrocene as a method for production of single-walled carbon nanotubes without additional carbon sources.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: IFW Dresden, P.O. Box 270116, D-01171 Dresden, Germany. a.barreiro@ifw-dresden.de
authors.forename: Amelia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barreiro
authors.forename: Silke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hampel
authors.forename: Mark H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Rümmeli
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kramberger
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grüneis
authors.forename: Kati
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Biedermann
authors.forename: Albrecht
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Leonhardt
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gemming
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Büchner
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bachtold
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pichler