Effects of Localized Electric Field on the Growth of Carbon Nanowalls

Abstract

Recently we have found that carbons can be grown into well-aligned two-dimensional sheets (dubbed carbon nanowalls) on a substrate through manipulating the electrical conduction from the catalyst to the bias electrode in a microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system. The existence of a strong lateral electric field between the catalyst islands was thought to be the key factor that promotes the growth of nanowalls instead of nanotubes. In this work, we provide more relevant evidence to show how a localized electric field can affect the growth of carbon nanowalls. The localized field, which was induced by gold particles via excitation of surface plasmons, altered significantly the growth of carbon nanowalls in terms of both surface morphology and density. If the surface plasmon can be excited in a well-controlled fashion, it may become a viable tool to grow very dense carbon nanowalls for potential industrial applications.

Cylindrical Metal Wire Surface Coating with Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes by an Atmospheric-Pressure Microplasma CVD Technique

“…The formation of this kind of structure, generally known as a ªcarbon nanowall (CNW)º, [25] is supposed to be due to the electric field between the catalysts. [26,27] In the present case, the variation of electric field, which might depend on UHF input power and the amount of supplied catalysts, seems to be implicated in the CNW formation. However, the details have not been clarified so far, and so are not reported.…”

Fabrication of a Class of Nanostructured Materials Using Carbon Nanowalls as the Templates

“…Very recently, we have also succeeded in the growth of carbon nanowalls without the use of catalysts. [8] The novel surface morphology of this type of carbon nanostructures makes it an ideal template for synthesizing mesoporous materials with high surface areas. Furthermore, nanocomposites of carbon with other types of materials also have important technological applications.…”

Bias-independent growth of carbon nanowalls by microwave electron-cyclotron resonance plasma CVD

“…The growth mechanism of CNWs is not explained so far in a conclusive manner. After discovering CNWs in 2002, Wu and Yang [24] pointed out that growth might be due to the effect of surface plasmons. They mentioned that the mechanism behind the formation of CNWs is the emergence of strong lateral fields due to the non-uniform charging of catalyst islands.…”

“…They mentioned that the mechanism behind the formation of CNWs is the emergence of strong lateral fields due to the non-uniform charging of catalyst islands. Emergence of strong lateral field is connected to the effect of localised surface plasmons [24]. They, however, intentionally changed their substrate orientation in a particular manner to excite the surface plasmons on their substrate with further help of gold nanoparticles.…”