CNT Synthesis
CNT Synthesis
CNT Synthesis
Polina Shifrina
12.05.2011
1. Introduction
Carbon nanostructures like fullerenes, graphene and nanotubes are of great
interest for the current research as well as for future industrial applications. The
reason for this is that the band gap of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) can
vary from zero to about 2 eV and hence their electrical conductivity can be the one
of a metal or the semiconductor. Moreover, the carbon nanotubes market is steadily
growing and thus effective and cheap solutions for the production of high quality
carbon nanotubes are needed. To the best of my knowledge, the main focus in the
current research lays on exploring the effective production methods for single-
walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) because of their unique physical and chemical
properties and hence their potential electronic application.
This handout presents different synthesis methods like arc discharge (AD), laser
ablation, chemical vapour deposition (CVD) as well as some of the more recent
methods working with high pressure of the carbon monoxide or some unique
catalytic mixture. The production methods are explained and their advantages and
disadvantages examined. The actual production of carbon nanotubes contains the
following steps: synthesis, purification, inspection and packaging. Although this
handout concentrates on the synthesis, the other factors should not be completely
neglected as they contribute significantly to the production costs.
2. Growth Mechanism
To begin with, I shortly explain the general growth mechanism of carbon nanotubes
that is basically common for different growth methods.
First of all, the exact way in which nanotubes are formed is not completely
understood. One distinguishes
between extrusion or tip-growth,
and base-growth, which are both a
three-step process. As
schematically sketched in Fig.1,
first, a round or pear-shaped
precursor for the formation of
nanotubes is formed on the surface
of the metal catalyst. Second, the
carbon diffuses on the sides of the
precursor leaving, however, the top
of it free – that is the reason for
the hollow core of the
[Fig.1: http://students.chem.tue.nl/ifp03/synthesis.html]
nanotube. Out of this a rod-like carbon structure is formed. By the base growth
(extrusion) the nanotube grows upwards from the metal particle that remains
attached to the substrate. By the tip growth the particle detaches and stays on the
top of the growing nanotube. Depending on the size of the catalyst particles, single-
walled or multi-walled nanotubes are grown.
In 2000 Kitiyanan proposed another method named after the unique catalyst
mixture of cobalt and molybdenum used, CoMoCat [8]. During this process carbon
monoxide decomposes under the temperatures between 700°C and 950°C into
simple carbon and carbon dioxide. The special strong point of this method is that it
inhibits the formation of the by-products that appear quite numerous in the arc
discharge and laser ablation methods.
5. Chemical Vapour Deposition
The catalytic chemical vapour deposition of carbon was reported already in 1959 [9]
, but only in 1993 carbon nanotubes were formed in this way [10]. During CVD, a
substrate covered with metal
catalysts, like nickel, cobalt, iron, or
a combination is heated to
approximately 700°C [11]. The
growth starts after two gases are
passed through the chamber, a
carrier gas like nitrogen, hydrogen or
argon, and some hydrocarbon gas
like
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_vapor_deposition
acetylene (C2H2) or methane (CH4). The synthesis production yield, which
indicates the amount of carbon nanotubes in the converted carbon, reaches 90%
[2]. CVD is commonly used for the industrial purposes because the method is
already well investigated and offers acceptable results on the industrial-scale.
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