Synthesis of a Long Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotube Array by Chemical Vapour Deposition

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Abstract

Although a lot of research has been devoted to the growth of a long Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotube Array (VANTA), it remains difficult to find the right parameters on new systems. It has turned out that the recipe that allows the growth of Carbon Nanotube (CNT) in a particular Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) oven is very specific and not appropriate for other CVD systems. Besides, the condition in and around the oven should be suitable for CNT growth. Therefore a systematic approach is proposed in which this condition can be verified and actual CNT growth can be ensured. With this approach CNT arrays have been grown reproducibly with a length of 500 microns and more. The quality of the CNTs have been investigated by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) imaging. It has been found that the CNTs contain only few defects and no undesired coverage of amorphous carbon. Besides this framework for CNT growth initial steps have been taken to synthesize a spinnable CNT array. Wires up to 5 mm have been pulled from the array and multiple directions have been investigated to improve spinnability towards a continuous spinning process.