Single stage production of carbon nanotubes using microwave technology

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were produced by gas phase single stage tubular microwave chemical vapor deposition (TM–CVD) using ferrocene as a catalyst and acetylene (C2H2) and hydrogen (H2) as precursor gasses. The effect of the process parameters such as microwave power, radiation time, and gas ratio of C2H2/H2 was investigated. The CNTs were characterized using scanning and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Results reveal that the optimized conditions for CNT production were 900 W reaction power, 35 min radiation time, and 0.6 gas ratio of C2H2/H2. TEM analyses revealed that the uniformly dispersed vertical alignment of multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) have diameters ranging from 16 to 23 nm. The TGA analysis showed that the purity of CNT produced was 98%.