Multiwall carbon nanotubes grown by thermocatalytic carbonization of polyacrylonitrile

A method is reported for the growth of multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) using polyacrylonitrile as a solid carbon source and nanosized SiO2 particles as catalyst. The nanotubes were grown either on a Si substrate or as a freestanding film at temperatures as low as 800 °C. The smallest measured inner diameter of the resultant MWCNTs is about 0.6 nm and therefore this method provides a new direction to prepare MWCNTs with very small inner diameter from solid carbon source.