title: Metal-catalyst-free growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes.
abstract: We present a metal-catalyst-free CVD process for the high-efficiency growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) on surface. By applying a 30-nm-thick SiO(2) sputtering deposited Si or Si/SiO(2) wafer as substrate and CH(4) as a carbon source, dense and uniform SWNT networks with high quality can be obtained without the presence of any metal species. Moreover, a simple patterned growth approach, using a scratched Si/SiO(2) wafer as substrate, is also presented for the growth of SWNTs with good position controllability. Our finding of the growth of SWNTs via a metal-catalyst-free process will provide valuable information for understanding the growth mechanism of SWNTs in-depth, which accordingly will facilitate the controllable synthesis and applications of carbon nanotubes.
authors.affiliation: Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Bilu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Wencai
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: Libo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Shisheng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Songfeng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pei
authors.forename: Chang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Chuanbin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Hui-Ming
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Cheng