Low-temperature synthesis of single-walled carbon nanotubes with Co catalysts via alcohol catalytic chemical vapor deposition under high vacuum

Abstract

We synthesized single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) using Co catalysts on Al2O3/SiO2/Si substrates via alcohol catalytic chemical vapor deposition (CVD). We attained SWCNT growth at 270 °C with Co catalysts by optimizing the ethanol pressure with a gas-source-type CVD system in a high vacuum, synthesizing a SWCNT yield that was comparable to that obtained from Rh catalysts, which enabled the lowest temperature growth of SWCNTs via CVD. We also characterized the SWCNTs grown from Co catalysts using Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy, highlighting that the SWCNT yield grown from Co catalysts were comparable to those obtained from Rh catalysts in the low temperature growth. We demonstrated that Co is a suitable catalyst for the low-temperature growth of SWCNTs, which is beneficial for application to electronics devices.