language: en

DOI: 10.1002/zaac.200700532

Catalytic Induced Thermal Conversion of Amorphous Carbon into Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Ravi Joshi a,b , Roland Schierholz c , Jörg J. Schneider* ,a , and Prathap Haridoss c
Darmstadt,
Technische Universität Darmstadt,
a Eduard-Zintl-Institut für Anorganische und Physikalische Chemie b Fachbereich Chemie
c Madras, Chennai/India,
Indian Institute of Technology, Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering
Received October 31 st , 2007.

[Dedicated to ProfessorKlaus Hafner on the Occasion of his 80 th Birthday]

Abstract. Single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have caught extensive attention in the field of material science and electronics. Their formation typically uses plasma arc or CVD techniques. So far, formation of SWCNTs just by thermal conversion of amorphous, non graphitic carbon which is a nearly ubiquitous carbon source is challenging but has not been reported so far. We herein demonstrate the catalytic growth of SWNTs from an amorphous carbon source (activated charcoal powder, 'Aktivkohle') mediated by three different catalytically active metals; metallic nickel, nickel derived from bis(? 5 -cyclopentadienyl)nickel (nickelocene) and yttrium formed in situ from yttrium oxide.

Keywords: Carbon nanotubes; Nickel; Yttrium; Catalysis; Carbon amorphous

Introduction