Growth of Carbon Nanofibers on Electroless Ni-P Alloy Catalyst

Abstract

AbstrateCarbon nanotubes (CNTs) were grown by electroless Ni-P plated on silicon substrate in a microwave heating chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system with methane gas at 700 °C. The CNTs grown on Ni-P catalyst showed random orientation and small diameter around 15-30 nm. Field emission test results indicated that the Ni-P catalyzed-CNTs exhibited excellent field emission properties. The turn-on field was about 0.56 V/tm with an emission current density 10 gA/cm 2 and the threshold field was 4.4 V/jum with an emission current density 10 mA/cm 2 . These excellent field emission properties may be attributed to the random orientation and small diameter of CNTs.