Large-Scale Synthesis of High-Quality Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes by Catalytic Decomposition of Ethylene

Abstract

High-quality single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have been synthesized over Fe−Mo/MgO catalyst by catalytic decomposition of ethylene at 800 °C. The produced carbon material primarily consists of a SWNT bundle with few defects and a very small amount of amorphous carbon coating. The diameter of an individual SWNT is in the range of 0.7−2.8 nm. The as-synthesized SWNTs have a high yield of over 550% relative to the weight of Fe−Mo metal in the Fe−Mo/MgO catalyst. Our results show that ethylene can be a very ideal carbon source for the synthesis of SWNTs. We suggest that catalytic decomposition of ethylene over Fe−Mo/MgO catalyst can promise a large-scale production of high-quality SWNTs.

Effect of catalyst preparation on the carbon nanotube growth rate

“…This might explain why there is always a low productivity during single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) synthesis [20]. For SWNT synthesis, small catalyst particles are normally employed.…”

RBM band shift-evidenced dispersion mechanism of single-wall carbon nanotube bundles with NaDDBS

“…Since the purification [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] and the large scale synthesis [34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43] methods of SWNT have been established nowadays, the large amount of considerably pure SWNTs can be obtained. Recent interest in SWNT is interfacial chemical treatment for the donation of new functions [44][45][46][47][48][49].…”

Continuous production of carbon nanotubes – A review

“…As an example, the use of argon gas will usually yield MWCNTs while SWCNTs were formed with the use of hydrogen gases [46]. The roles of catalyst in these systems is as important as its environment and is said to influence CNT selectivity with alloy catalyst (Fe-Co, Ni-Co, Fe-Mo, Co-Ni-Fe, Fe-Ni and Mg-NiO) being very effective on CNT selectivity [6,[38][39][40][41][42][43] compared to metal catalyst (Fe, Co, Ni) that yield both SWCNT and MWCNT respectively, indicating poor selectivity [8]. CNT growth rate is another parameter influence by the catalyst and it is said to be dependent on catalyst size [45] also on catalyst types (i.e.…”