Oxidizer gases effects on the diameter-controlled synthesis of carbon nanotubes

Abstract

In this study, the influence of the oxidizers on the synthesis of carbon nanotubes by C2H4 decomposition over Fe catalyst has been investigated. CO2, O2, and H2O have been used as oxidizers, and to control catalyst particle formation and their sizes in the pretreatment stage. The same oxidizers have also been used in the growth stage to maintain the catalyst particle size, remove amorphous carbon formation to keep catalyst particle active. The results of scanning electron microscopy indicated that the average diameters of nanotubes decreased from 13.4±1.2 nm to 6.2±0.5 nm and extremely dense nanotubes were obtained when we added a small amount of CO2. Adding O2 extremely decreased the areal carbon nanotube density while widens the diameter distribution. H2O addition resulted in larger average diameters and made the growth strongly pretreatment dependent. Within the parameters tried for catalyst pretreatment and CNT growth processes, CO2 seemed the best choice for a weak oxidizing assistant. The strong dependency of the average diameter on pretreatment conditions indicated that pretreatment is a very important step in deciding the final diameters and their distribution.