On the Development of Fluidized Bed Chemical Vapour Deposition for Large-Scale Carbon Nanotube Synthesis: Influence of Synthesis Temperature

Abstract

The absence of large-scale carbon nanotube synthesis technology (which we define as being of the order of 10 000 tonnes per plant per year) is limiting research and development activities across the sector. We contend that fluidized bed chemical vapour deposition (FBCVD) is the most promising technology for large-scale, low-cost, carbon nanotube synthesis. In this work, multi-walled carbon nanotubes were synthesized on alumina-supported iron, cobalt, or nickel catalysts by catalytic chemical vapour deposition in a 0.5 kg h–1 FBCVD reactor, using ethylene as a carbon source. The carbon nanotube yield was shown to increase with an increase in synthesis temperature from 3.3% at 550°C to 87.6% at 900°C. At higher synthesis temperatures the quality of the nanotubes appeared to improve, although further experiments are required to quantify this within statistically significant limits.