The synthesis of carbon nanotubes at low temperature via carbon suboxide disproportionation Original Research Article

Carbon nanotubes were synthesized via a novel route using an iron catalyst at the extremely low temperature of 180 °C. In this process, carbon suboxide was used as carbon source, which changed to freshly formed free carbon clusters through disproportionation. The carbon clusters can grow into nanotubes in the presence of Fe catalyst, which was obtained by the decomposition of iron carbonyl Fe2(CO)9 at 250 °C under nitrogen atmosphere. The products were characterized with XRD, TEM, HRTEM and Raman spectroscopy.