High-pressure catalytic chemical vapor deposition of ferromagnetic ruthenium-containing carbon nanostructures

Abstract

We report on the high-pressure catalytic chemical vapor deposition (CCVD) of ruthenium nanoparticles (NPs) and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) by means of gas-phase decomposition of acetonitrile and ruthenocene in a tubular quartz flow reactor at 950 °C and at elevated pressures (between 2 and 8 bar). The deposited material consists of Ru metal cores with sizes ranging between 1 and 3 nm surrounded by a carbon matrix. The high-pressure CCVD seems to be an effective route to obtain composite materials containing metallic NPs, Ru in this work, inside a nanostructured carbon matrix protecting them from oxidation in ambient air. We find that in contradiction to the weak paramagnetic properties characterizing bulk ruthenium, the synthesized samples are ferromagnetic as predicted for nanosized particles of nonmagnetic materials. At low pressure, the very small ruthenium catalyst particles are able to catalyze growth of SWCNTs. Their yield decreases with increasing reaction pressure. Transmission electron microscopy, selected area energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, Raman spectroscopy, and magnetic measurements were used to analyze and confirm properties of the synthesized NPs and nanotubes. A discussion on the growth mechanism of the Ru-containing nanostructures is presented.