Critical pressure during the formation of carbon nanotubes by the method of plasma chemical vapor deposition

Abstract

The critical pressure of acetylene required for the formation of nanotubes on nickel catalytic centers of a given size was calculated by plasma chemical vapor deposition. It has been established that for a stable growth of carbon nanotubes on a catalytic center with a diameter of 20 nm, the critical pressure of acetylene should be 1.9 Pa, while the growth time of carbon nanotubes in length of 5 μm is 131 sec. Nickel was used as a material for the formation of catalytic centers. In the calculations, the averaged parameters of carbon nanotubes were used. This analysis allowed to form a number of criteria for the materials of the underlayer and catalytic centers, to obtain an array of carbon nanotubes with a high degree of verticality.