Growth of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Rooted from Fe/Al Nanoparticle Array

Abstract

We explored the growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) from nanoparticle array made of an Fe/Al multilayer catalyst by thermal chemical vapor deposition. Fe nanoparticles with a high number density and a narrow size distribution (1–5 nm) were efficiently formed by annealing the Fe/Al thin layer, resulting in the high-yield growth of SWNTs. Moreover, it was found that isolated SWNTs are rooted from patterned Fe/Al islands. The SWNTs bridged between electrodes exhibited semiconducting and metallic properties.