Abstract
In this paper, we have demonstrated that europium oxide (Eu2O3) is a new type of active catalyst for single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) growth under suitable conditions. Both random SWNT networks and horizontally aligned SWNT arrays are efficiently grown on silicon wafers. The density of the SWNT arrays can be altered by the CVD conditions. This result further provides the experimental evidence that the efficient catalyst for SWNT growth is more size dependent than the catalysts themselves. Furthermore, the SWNTs from europium sesquioxides have compatibly higher quality than that from Fe/Mo catalyst. More importantly, over 80% of the nanotubes from Eu2O3 are semiconducting SWNTs (s-SWNTs), indicating the preferential growth of s-SWNTs from Eu2O3. This new finding could open a way for selective growth of s-SWNTs, which can be used as high-current nanoFETs and sensors. Moreover, the successful growth of SWNTs by Eu2O3 catalyst provides new experimental information for understanding the preferential growth of s-SWNTs from Eu2O3, which may be helpful for their controllable synthesis.
Highlights
Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have attracted a great deal of attention due to their unique structures and excellent properties [1,2,3,4] since their discovery [5]
In this paper, we have demonstrated that europium oxide (Eu2O3) is a new type of active catalyst for single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) growth under suitable conditions
Over 80% of the nanotubes from Eu2O3 are semiconducting SWNTs (s-SWNTs), indicating the preferential growth of s-SWNTs from Eu2O3. This new finding could open a way for selective growth of s-SWNTs, which can be used as high-current nanoFETs and sensors
Summary
Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have attracted a great deal of attention due to their unique structures and excellent properties [1,2,3,4] since their discovery [5]. In the past 5 years, many other metals such as Ag, Pd, Au, Cu, Rh, Pb [14,15,16,17,18,19], Mg, Mn, Cr, Sn and Al [20, 21], semiconductors such as Si and Ge [16], carbides such as SiC [16], Fe3C [22] and more recently even oxides including SiO2, Al2O3, TiO2 have been reported to be active for SWNT growth [23] These materials were regarded as inactive catalysts for the growth of CNTs in the past. This new type catalyst provides an alternative catalyst for the growth of SWNTs and a possible high percentage of superlong s-SWNT arrays for various SWNT-based nanodevice fabrications and applications
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