Bulk production of multi-wall carbon nanotube bundles on sol–gel prepared catalyst

A method to grow multi-wall carbon nanotube bundles in a high yield (weighing over 15 times the catalyst) is developed and a plausible explanation for the formation and high yield of the bundles is suggested. The Co–Mo–Mg–O catalyst used in the experiment is prepared by a sol–gel technique, molybdenum being doped into the catalyst through oxidation and diffusion at 750 °C. Small changes to the catalyst preparation lead to the growth of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). Our work is an exploitation of the high performance of the solid catalyst in the synthesis of novel nanomaterials.