Copper catalyzing growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes on substrates.
Metallic copper, which is normally considered as a contaminant in the growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), was found to be an efficient catalyst to grow SWNTs under suitable conditions. It showed very high catalytic activity for the growth of both random SWNT networks and horizontally aligned SWNT arrays. Especially, high-quality SWNT arrays were obtained when monodispersed copper nanoparticles were used. The catalytic behavior of copper for the growth of SWNTs was discussed. The weaker interaction between the copper and silica surfaces plays an important role in the growth of high-quality horizontally aligned SWNT arrays. This new synthesis process of SWNTs with a non-ferromagnetic catalyst brings more convenience to the study of magnetic properties of SWNTs and gives more insight in structure-controlled synthesis of SWNTs.
Zhou
Weiwei
W
Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory for the Physics and Chemistry of Nanodevices, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
Han
Zuoyan
Z
Wang
Jinyong
J
Zhang
Yan
Y
Jin
Zhong
Z
Sun
Xiao
X
Zhang
Yawen
Y
Yan
Chunhua
C
Li
Yan
Y