Abstract
Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were synthesized on austenitic stainless steel foils (Type 304) using a home-built thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) under atmospheric pressure of hydrogen (H2) and acetylene (C2H2). During the growth, the stainless steel substrates were heated at different temperatures of 600, 700, 800, and 900°C. It was found that MWCNTs were grown on the stainless steel substrates heated at 600, 700, and 800°C while amorphous carbon film was grown at 900°C. The diameters of MWCNTs, as identified by scanning electron microscope (SEM) images together with ImageJ software program, were found to be 67.7, 43.0, and 33.1 nm, respectively. The crystallinity of MWCNTs was investigated by an X-ray diffractometer. The number of graphitic walled layers and the inner diameter of MWCNTs were investigated using a transmission electron microscope (TEM). The occurrence of Fe3O4 nanoparticles associated with carbon element can be used to reveal the behavior of Fe in stainless steel as catalyst. Raman spectroscopy was used to confirm the growth and quality of MWCNTs. The results obtained in this work showed that the optimum heated stainless steel substrate temperature for the growth of effective MWCNTs is 700°C. Chemical states of MWCNTs were investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) using synchrotron light.
Highlights
Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) have been widely studied by many researchers
The MWCNTs and amorphous carbon films were synthesized on austenitic stainless steel substrates using a home-built thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system
The surface of the flexible stainless steel was activated by hydrogen at different temperatures of 600, 700 800, and 900∘C
Summary
Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) have been widely studied by many researchers. MWCNTs can be synthesized by different methods such as arc discharge [1,2,3,4,5], laser ablation [6, 7], chemical vapor deposition (CVD) [8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15], and flame method [16,17,18,19]. Nickel [20, 21], cobalt [22, 23], iron [24, 25], stainless steel [26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34], gold [35], platinum [36], and their alloys have been effectively used as catalysts One of these metals is generally deposited on the substrate in the form of thin film as a catalyst before the growth of MWCNTs. For stainless steel, the main compositions are Fe, Ni, Mn, and Cr. the large scale MWCNTs can be fabricated directly on stainless steel surface without an addition of extra catalysts [28]. There are not many reports on the growth of MWCNTs on stainless steel foil a lot of works on the growth of MWCNTs on the inflexible heavy stainless steel have been
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