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Issue Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys.
Volume 44, Number 2, November 2008
Page(s) 171 - 180
Section Imaging, Microscopy and Spectroscopy
DOI 10.1051/epjap:2008108
Published online 19 July 2008

Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. 44, 171-180 (2008)
DOI: 10.1051/epjap:2008108

Iron-catalyst performances in carbon nanotube growth by chemical vapour deposition

S. Santangelo1, G. Messina1, G. Faggio1, M. Lanza2, C. Milone3 and A. Pistone3

1  Dipartimento di Meccanica e Materiali, Facoltà di Ingegneria, Università “Mediterranea”, Reggio Calabria, Italy
2  CNR, Istituto per i Processi Chimico-Fisici Sez. Messina, Messina, Italy
3  Dipartimento di Chimica Industriale e Ingegneria dei Materiali, Facoltà di Ingegneria, Università di Messina, Messina, Italy

saveria.santangelo@unirc.it

Received: 27 March 2008 / Accepted: 19 May 2008 / Published online: 19 July 2008

Abstract
The efficiency of iron-catalysts in hydrocarbon decomposition, aimed at growth of carbon nanotubes by chemical vapour deposition (CVD), is systematically investigated. The synthesis reaction is carried out at different temperatures (873–1123 K), for various durations (0.5–6.0 h), using diverse precursor gases (C2H6 or C4H10) and catalyst supports (SiO2 or Al2O3). A large variety of experimental conditions is explored by varying amount (0.5–2.0 g), metal load (20 wt.% and 29 wt.%) and annealing temperature (723–973 K) of the catalysts and by considering different gas flowing setups, namely, by changing flow rate (100–240 cc/min) and composition (H2/precursor/He, with He at 0–63%) of the gas mixture, flow-rates and flow-ratio of reactant gases (H2: 0–120 cc/min; Precursor Gas: 15–120 cc/min; H2/PG: 0–3). Iron catalysts encapsulation is shown to be the main factor limiting C yields in the cases considered, and its changes to be responsible for the broad yield variations (20–910 wt.%) observed. The results of analyses, carried out by Raman spectroscopy (RS) and complementary diagnostics techniques, demonstrate the need of accurately tuning the manifold growth parameters, in order to fully benefit of the advantages potentially deriving from a proper choice of precursor gas and catalyst-support material.

PACS
63.22.+m - Phonons or vibrational states in low-dimensional structures and nanoscale materials.
81.07.De - Nanotubes.
81.16.Hc - Catalytic methods.

© EDP Sciences 2008


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