Synthesis and Characterization of Carbon Nanotubes from Palm Oil by Aerosol-Assisted CVD

Abstract

This paper will report on the synthesis of bundles of aligned single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) from palm oil precursor and ferrocene as catalyst source by two stage aerosol-assisted CVD system at various deposition temperature ranging from 700-900oC. Palm oil was pyrolised into the furnace which contained the catalyst source producing black substances at the wall of the reaction furnace which were then collected to be characterized. Field emission scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy dispersive X-ray was used to obtain weight percentage, identification of samples and image of CNTs which showed different structures and diameters of CNTs relative to the deposition temperature of furnace. Raman Spectroscopy was used to further study the quality and identification of samples and finally X-ray powder diffraction was used to determine the crystalinity of samples. Individual micrograph of MWNTs at optimized deposition temperature was also obtained from the high resolution transmission electron microscopy.