Synthesis and growth mechanism of Fe-catalyzed carbon nanotubes by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition

✍ Scribed by Jun Jiang; Tao Feng; Xinhong Cheng; Lijuan Dai; Gongbai Cao; Bingyao Jiang; Xi Wang; Xianghuai Liu; Shichang Zou

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 526 KB
• Volume: 244
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0168-583X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nimb.2005.10.012

✦ Synopsis

Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) was used to grow Fe-catalyzed carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The nanotubes had a uniform diameter in the range of about 10-20 nm. A base growth mode was responsible for the CNTs growth using a mixture of H 2 (60 sccm) and C 2 H 2 (15 sccm). For a mixture of H 2 (100 sccm) and C 2 H 2 (25 sccm), a complicated growth mechanism took place involving both the base growth and the tip growth. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements revealed that the grown CNTs contained C-H covalent bonds and Fe-C bonds located at the interface between them and the substrates. The factors determining the growth mechanism of CNTs are discussed and their growth mechanisms with the different gas ratios are suggested.