Direct growth of multiwall carbon nanotube on metal catalyst by chemical vapor deposition: In situ nucleation

• Published in: Surface & coatings technology Vol. 381; p. 125109
• Main Authors: Hasanzadeh, Iraj, Jafari Eskandari, Mohammad
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lausanne Elsevier B.V 15.01.2020; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Aluminum; Carbon; Carbon nanotubes; Catalyst system; Catalysts; Chemical vapor deposition; Cobalt; Commercialization; Electron diffraction; Feed ratio; Flow velocity; Gas flow; Industrial applications; Iron; Mechanical properties; Multi wall carbon nanotubes; Nanocomposites; Nanoparticles; Nanotechnology; Nickel; Nucleation; Organic chemistry; Raman spectroscopy; Temperature; Thermal CVD; Zirconium hydrides; Feed ratio; Carbon nanotubes; Temperature; Gas flow; Thermal CVD; Catalyst system
• ISSN: 0257-8972; 1879-3347
• DOI: 10.1016/j.surfcoat.2019.125109

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are among the most promising materials for applications in future nanotechnology. The combination of excellent physical and mechanical properties beside chemical resistance seems very interesting for different industrial applications. However, the commercialization of nanotube-based nanocomposites has been hampered by their high cost and minuscule production. In the present study, we have tried to understand the fundamental aspects of multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) direct growth on metal catalyst particles via thermal chemical vapor deposition (T.CVD) in the presence of zirconium hydride (ZrH2) and aluminum nanoparticles. The effects of different parameters such as gas flow rates, metal catalyst systems, and temperature on the quality and quantity of the obtained MWCNTs were investigated and some interesting results were obtained. It was found that at moderate temperatures, MWCNTs growth rate on iron-based (Fe) catalyst was much more than that on nickel (Ni) and cobalt (Co) particles. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results and TGA analysis revealed that metal nanoparticles as the nucleation sites come from the fragmentation of catalyst surfaces and the application of relatively small amounts of ZrH2 significantly enhances this mechanism. Besides, crystalline structure of MWCNTs was performed by Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) technique. This method shows great promise for achieving the goal of mass-production due to its high quality and yield; simplicity, and ease of scale-up. •The effect of different parameters on direct growth of MWCNTs with various metal particles was investigated by thermal CVD.•The performance of catalysts was in the order of Iron > nickel > cobalt.•The presence of zirconium hydride was tried as an in situ hydrogen generator and co-catalyst system.