Activation of catalyst particles for single-walled carbon nanotube synthesis

Abstract

In this work, we evaluate the effect of ferrocene delivery in the reactor on the growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) in an aerosol CVD utilizing carbon monoxide as a feedstock. For this purpose, we assess the reactor output parameters varying a gas flow rate through a ferrocene vapor injector in the hot zone with other conditions (temperature, total flow rate, and reactant concentration) being fixed. Our experimental results reveal the adjustment of the ferrocene injection strategy (injector flow rate) to cause a 9-fold improvement in the synthesis yield while preserving the SWCNT properties. We show the catalyst injection optimization to enhance catalyst activation degree as a result of a streamline catalyst delivery, preventing particle over-growth; the experimental data are supported by the computational fluid dynamics. We believe our work to highlight the importance of appropriate aerosol CVD reactor engineering and to facilitate the optimization of reactor productivity, which is one of the fundamental milestones towards SWCNT-based technology.