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Size-selective growth of double-walled carbon nanotube forests from engineered iron catalysts

Nature Nanotechnology volume 1, pages 131–136 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

We have succeeded in synthesizing vertically aligned doubled-walled carbon nanotube (DWNT) forests with heights of up to 2.2 mm by water-assisted chemical vapour deposition (CVD). We achieved 85% selectivity of DWNTs through a semi-empirical analysis of the relationships between the tube type and mean diameter and between the mean diameter and the film thickness of sputtered Fe, which was used here as a catalyst. Accordingly, catalysts were engineered for optimum DWNT selectivity by precisely controlling the Fe film thickness. The high efficiency of water-assisted CVD enabled the synthesis of nearly catalyst-free DWNT forests with a carbon purity of 99.95%, which could be templated into organized structures from lithographically patterned catalyst islands.

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Figure 1: Trends in CNT type and diameter.
Figure 2: Selective synthesis.
Figure 3: Highly efficient DWNT synthesis.
Figure 4: Sensitivity of CNT type to sputter target.

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Acknowledgements

We thank A. Maigne, T. Nakamura and Y. Kakudate for their helpful experimental support. We also gratefully acknowledge the helpful contributions by A. Otsuka, S. Yamada, M. Mizuno and T. Hiraoka. The partial support of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) Nano-Carbon Technology project is acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center for Advanced Carbon Materials, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, 305-8565, Ibaraki, Japan

    Takeo Yamada, Tatsunori Namai, Kenji Hata, Don N. Futaba, Kohei Mizuno, Motoo Yumura & Sumio Iijima

  2. Japan Science and Technology Agency, 34 Miyukigaoka, Tsukuba, 305-8501, Ibaraki, Japan

    Jing Fan & Masako Yudasaka

  3. NEC Corporation, 34 Miyukigaoka, Tsukuba, 305-8501, Ibaraki, Japan

    Masako Yudasaka

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  1. Takeo Yamada
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  2. Tatsunori Namai
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  3. Kenji Hata
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  4. Don N. Futaba
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  5. Kohei Mizuno
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Contributions

T.Y. and K.H. conceived and designed the experiment, T.Y. and T.N. performed the experiments, K.M. contributed to material preparation, and J.F. and M.Y. contributed to TEM observations. T.Y. and K.H. co-wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to Kenji Hata.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Yamada, T., Namai, T., Hata, K. et al. Size-selective growth of double-walled carbon nanotube forests from engineered iron catalysts. Nature Nanotech 1, 131–136 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2006.95

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