Concepedia

Synthesis of Large Arrays of Well-Aligned Carbon Nanotubes on Glass

Zhi Ren, Zhiwei Huang, Jiasai Xu, Jinhui Wang, Peter J. Bush, Michael P. Siegal, P. N. Provencio

Science · 1998 · 2.5K citations · 11 references

Open access

TL;DR

Aligned carbon nanotubes have previously been grown above 700 °C on mesoporous silica with iron nanoparticles. The study demonstrates that large panels of aligned carbon nanotubes can be fabricated under device‑compatible conditions. Using plasma‑enhanced hot‑filament CVD on nickel‑coated glass below 666 °C, acetylene served as the carbon source while ammonia acted as catalyst and dilution gas. The process yields nanotubes with diameters ranging from 20 to 400 nm and lengths between 1 and 50 µm.

Abstract

Free-standing aligned carbon nanotubes have previously been grown above 700 degreesC on mesoporous silica embedded with iron nanoparticles. Here, carbon nanotubes aligned over areas up to several square centimeters were grown on nickel-coated glass below 666 degreesC by plasma-enhanced hot filament chemical vapor deposition. Acetylene gas was used as the carbon source and ammonia gas was used as a catalyst and dilution gas. Nanotubes with controllable diameters from 20 to 400 nanometers and lengths from 0. 1 to 50 micrometers were obtained. Using this method, large panels of aligned carbon nanotubes can be made under conditions that are suitable for device fabrication.