Low-temperature generation of high-purity single-walled carbon nanotubes by alcohol CCVD technique

By using alcohol such as ethanol and methanol as the carbon source, a new simple catalytic chemical vapor deposition technique to generate high-purity single-walled carbon nanotubes at low temperature is demonstrated. Vapor phase alcohol was supplied over Fe/Co catalyst supported with Zeolite in an electric furnace. The blackened sample was analyzed by resonant Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Because of the etching effect of decomposed OH radical attacking carbon atoms with a dangling bond, impurities such as amorphous carbon, multi-walled carbon nanotubes, metal particles and carbon nanoparticles are completely suppressed even at relatively low reaction temperature such as 700-800°C.